A New Start In Life
by ITgwendolendragon
Summary: Leah is a seventeen year old girl looking for a new life. After her stepbrother tells her to run away, she finds it tough living in the city. That is, until she finds the Newsies. Sucky summary, please just read to get a better explanation. :) Oscar/OC
1. Chapter 1

I sat in my room, on my small, lumpy mattress, waiting for my step-father to come in. Me and his son, Billy, had just gotten in trouble. We were fighting, again. We were always fighting. Ever since his Dad and my Mom got together, it's been this way. I hated it.

Billy was two years older than me, making him nineteen. He wants to run away, he wants to live his life, but his Dad won't let him. All that is between them, I don't know much about it, but Billy always takes his anger out on me. Not physically, he just yells at me and calls me names. Billy would never touch a woman like that, not to hurt them, no matter how much they made him mad. The worst he's ever done to me, is pull my hair, and he's actually apologized for it afterwards, which is rare. Billy's rarely nice to me.

Me and Billy sat side by side, our arms touching, as we stayed silent, the only sound was the heavy wind outside making the leaves of the potted plants rustle.

"Shut up woman, let me handle this!" Billy's father yelled from the top of the stairs, and Billy tensed up. His father's been angry before, but I've never heard him yell at my Mom like that. Of course, it was ten o'clock that night and Billy's Dad always went out at around eight. He must of come home early tonight.

"I didn't expect him to come home this early," Billy said quietly, more to himself than to me.

I looked over at him briefly before turning my head back to the door when I heard heavy booted footsteps stomping their way towards my bedroom. I swallowed thickly, not knowing what to expect.

"What's going to happen, Billy?" I asked.

I expected him to tell me to shut up, but he just stared at the door nervously and shrugged. He knew what would happen, but it's like he was afraid to tell me.

Then, my bedroom door burst open and there stood Billy's Dad, Patrick. Me and Billy both flinched and stared at that Patrick nervously. Billy swallowed thickly, nervously as his Dad stepped forward a little bit.

"Billy, explain to me what happened," He spoke, "It better be good. I didn't leave the bar early for anything stupid did I?"

"Uh… N-no sir," Billy stuttered nervously.

"Then spill it, boy!" He yelled at his son angrily, making me and Billy both flinch.

"Well, you see, Dad, I—"

"Don't call me that! What have I told you about calling me that?!" Patrick screamed. What the hell was his problem?

"Sorry sir, the reason you're home early is because, when I was trying to help Dawn with dinner, Leah here tried telling me what to do, and what I was doing was wrong, and—"

"And did you ever stop to think what you were doing WAS wrong?" Patrick asked, seemingly calmer as he crossed his arms, his eyes just barely staying open as he slurred over his words. He was deadbeat drunk.

"Well, no sir, I—"

"Enough of that, boy! Come here!" Patrick cried, letting his arms fall down by his sides.

Billy flinched and clenched his fists in his lap, nervously looking up at his father. But he didn't move.

"Billy… What did I say?" Patrick snapped, his teeth clenched together as he tried to suppress anger, but Billy just sat there, looking down at the floor in between Patrick's feet, as if he was mentally cutting the floor below him with a saw, "God damn it, when I give you an order, you obey it!"

Patrick marched over to Billy and grabbed his ear hard and pulled him up to his feet, making me gasp at the force he used to grab Billy. It must of hurt, because Billy cried out and winced in pain, his shoulders scrunching as his father pulled him along towards the door, but Billy mustered up a little bit of courage and pushed his father by the stomach away from him.

He stepped back and held his ear as he glared at his father nervously, yet angrily, "You didn't let me finish! We just got into a little bit of an argument, that's all!"

"Oh, so it's both of your doing?" Patrick asked, looking over at me.

"Well… No, but—"

"Yes! It's my fault, too," I suddenly cut in, not wanting to see Billy take the blame for all of this. We may hate each other, but nobody deserved this kind of treatment, I could at least help a little.

"Really?" Patrick said, stepping towards me, a sly, devious smile played across his lips.

"Y-yes sir," I stuttered, scooting back on my bed a little bit as he stepped closer.

"Then I guess you deserve a punishment, too," He said, chuckling a little. That sick bastard.

"Y-you're not going to hurt me, a-are you?" I asked, swallowing thickly.

"No, of course not," He smiled, "Come here."

He reached for me, but I shrunk back a little bit.

"Come here, Leah, you know I'd never hurt a lady, come here," He said calmly, trying to convince me.

He grabbed my wrist gently and pulled me towards him. I fought back a little, but in the end, he was stronger. He pulled me to my feet and looked down at my face weirdly. This felt weird. He then reached his hand up to my face and stroked my cheek. I tried pushing him away, but he gripped my wrist tighter and pulled me closer. He then, disgustingly, pushed his foul tasting mouth against mine. I groaned and pushed at his chest, but he was stronger. He ran his free hand up my side and to my breast. That was the last straw.

"Get off of her, you son of a bitch!" Billy suddenly screamed, tackling his father off of me.

I gasped for air and felt tears sting my eyes. Oh my God, I can't believe that just happened. That was the scariest thing I've ever experienced in my short life. I covered my mouth to try and suppress a sob. I was then knocked out of my thoughts when I heard a loud, choking sound. I looked down and saw Patrick was on top of Billy, strangling him.

I gasped and looked around for anything to stop this, that's when I spotted a glass bottle on the table next to my bedroom door. Patrick must of brought it in when he came inside. I dashed over to it and grabbed it before running over to Patrick and, without a second thought, smashed it over his head.

Patrick cried out in pain and released Billy before rolling off of him and gripping the back of his head.

"Billy, are you alright?" I cried, tears streaming down my pale cheeks.

He choked and coughed for a few more moments before he fought up the strength to stand. He looked at me and rested a hand on my arm, causing me to flinch, afraid he was going to hurt me like his father did, but he didn't.

"Leah, get out of here. Now," He ordered.

"But—"

"No buts, just go! Out the window and down the escape hatch!" He kept barking orders.

"Where will I go?" I asked.

"It doesn't matter, just get as far away from here as possible!" He commanded.

"What about you?" I asked, actually worried for his wellbeing. This was a new feeling.

"I'll be fine, I've dealt with this before. Just go!" He pushed me towards the window.

I opened it and pulled my legs through it before looking back at Billy, "Will you try to come find me?"

"I'll try, just go! He's getting up!" He yelled, turning back to me.

I nodded and climbed the rest of the way through the window. When I turned back, Billy had closed and locked the window and was already ready to fight off his Dad.

I mustered up the strength to look away before I started climbing down the escape hatch. What was I going to do on the streets of New York?


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello everyone! I forgot to put a disclaimer in my first chapter, so I'll put it in this one here. But first, I'm going to tell you who will be Leah's main friends in this story. Snipeshooter, Les, Davie, Itey, Bumlets, Pie Eater, Kid Blink, and perhaps Oscar later on. You can choose who she ends up with in the end, but it's between, Itey, Bumlets and Oscar. Leave our suggestions in the reviews, please. :)**

 **Disney owns Newsies and all these wonderful characters.**

I've had my head buried in my hands for the past half hour so. After running for what seemed like an eternity, I had stopped in an alley near the bridge. The tears seemed like they were never going to stop. I can't believe Patrick tried to do… Well, whatever he was going to do to me. I had visions of what could have happened, and it gave me the shivers that ran up and down my spine.

What was I going to do? I had nowhere to go, and I knew no one. I was terrified I'd never see my mother again.

I finally sucked up my tears and mustered up the strength to stand. I wiped my small hands across my cheeks and sighed sadly as I started back down the alley, heading back for the street.

"Stop right there, you nasty little shrimp!" I heard a man's voice yell, followed by loud, heavy footsteps.

I gasped and pressed my back against the alley wall as I heard the footsteps getting louder, which means they were getting closer. Soon enough, a man dove into the alley with me and pressed his back against the wall in the darkness, his chest rising and falling heavily. He noticed me, since he looked over at me, glared, and said, "Don't say a word, and just maybe I won't hurt ye'!"

I whimpered and pursed my lips together, clenching my teeth as I tried to hold back tears of fear. I nodded in response and closed my eyes tightly as I heard the other man's footsteps coming closer to the alley. I held my breath as I tried to stay quiet, in fear this man might actually hurt me.

I've never been alone in the streets of Manhattan before, much less been to Manhattan more than twice in my whole life. I've heard the city folk could be quite rude. The footsteps suddenly stopped and now all I could hear was heavy, tired panting.

"I'll get you for this, boy! Mark my words, I'll get you!" The man shouted angrily, before he turned on his heel and retreated back to wherever he was before. A few moments passed before the man next to me decided that the coast was clear; he turned to me and came out of the darkness.

"Good goil," He smiled deviously, the look on anger still plastered onto his face, "Good keepin' yer mouth shut. Now I won't hurt ye'."

I didn't say a word, just bit my bottom lip, trying to suppress the tears, but it was all for naught. Tears starting falling, and I let out a few choked sobs, before the heat rose to my face in embarrassment.

The man in front of me suddenly slumped his shoulders and looked around awkwardly, as if he'd never seen anyone cry before. His face softened a little, but only a little as he took a small step back, "Don't… Don't do that. Why- Why are ye' cryin'?"

I shook my head and averted my gaze downward in embarrassed sadness. I was lost, so lost. I had absolutely nowhere to go, and no one to be with. I was alone and lost in New York, and that was something you never wanted to be.

"Ah jeez…" He sighed quietly, bringing a hand to his forehead before looking back at me, "Um… What's wrong? Why ye' cryin'? Are ye' lost?"

I nodded as best as I could, still avoiding eye contact with the man. This was so embarrassing.

"Where ye' live? I can give ye' directions, maybe?" He suggested awkwardly, motioning his hands around nervously.

"No!" I suddenly cried, making the man jump; I finally made eye contact with him, "I- I can't go back there. Not after what he tried to do to me."

The man softened his gaze and finally and slumped his shoulders in sadness, "Well… Um… You ran away, huh?"

It's as if he was at a loss for words, so I only nodded.

"And you need a place to stay? Um… Do ye' think he's lookin' for ye?" He asked nervously, taking one small step closer, but it was a very small step.

I shrugged, "I don't know. Maybe."

"Well, do ye' have any money?" He asked.

I didn't think it was wise telling this man I barely knew if I had money, afraid he would try and mug me. So I shook my head.

"No money, lost in the city, no place to go… I only know one safe place around here, and it ain't the orphanage," The man said, the glare coming back to his face. It was as if he didn't want to show any emotion whatsoever; he sighed, "Follow me."

He pushed himself out of the alley, and I hesitantly followed.

After what seemed like an hour walking to the man's place, he gave me some old clothes and told me to go change. He gave me boy's clothes. They looked about a size too big, but I could pull it off.

I changed out of my dress, corset, and leggings, plus my pretty shoes that were now coated in mud and God knows what else. I then pulled on the baggy pants, which were foreign yet strangely comfortable. Why don't girls wear these more often? I then slipped on some old, ragged shoes that were coated in dirt and charcoal.

Before putting on my blue button up shirt, I used some white bandages to cover my chest. I didn't have much there anyway, so I only needed a thin layer. After that was finished, I pulled on the shirt, buttoned it up and looked at myself in the mirror. Besides the long hair, I looked like a boy. I then looked to the scissors on the sink.

I contemplated for a moment before grabbing the handle and chopping away at my hair. I didn't care how it looked, as long as it made me look more like a boy and was quicker for me to get ready in the morning. After I finished, I ran my hand through my now shaggy, short hair and sighed. I was ready. I smacked a newsboy cap on my brown locks and huffed, turning towards the bathroom door and heading out.

As I walked out, the man I had met in the alley was standing, leaning against the wall, arms crossed and waiting impatiently.

He looked over at me and pushed himself off the wall, "It's 'bout time! I've been waitin' for fifteen minutes! What took ye' so long?"

"I just had to fix my hair," I said, shrugging my frail shoulders. I actually had broad shoulders for a girl. I would look scrawny for a boy, but at least I looked like one.

"Yeah, let me see," The man said, grabbing my hat and pulling it off of my head. He then gaped when he saw my hair had been all cut off, "Damn! Ye' chopped it all off!"

"I figured it be easier to manage," I said, chewing on the inside of my cheek before snatching the hat back out of his hand.

"Well, yer attitude won't be hard to masta'," The man said, glaring at me in annoyance, "Let's get a move on. Mr. Kloppman's should be risin' n' shinin' here pretty soon."

"Mr. Kloppman?" I questioned as I walked after the man out the door.

"Yeah. He's the guardian of da newsies," The man said, "He watches over 'em. Keeps 'em fed. Well, as best as he can, anyways."

I then studied his face a little more after he put his hat on. He looked familiar, like I've seen him before in the paper or something. Then it hit me.

"Hey! I saw you in the paper last year!" I suddenly cried, making him flinch.

"Yeah, I don't wanna talk about it," The man said.

"Is it because you were one of the thugs fired from The World for abusing the newsboys?" I snapped, giving him a glare.

The man turned to me angrily, covered my mouth with his hand, and pushed me against the wall roughly. I tried to scream, but he muffled it with his dirty, disgusting hand. I tried fighting back the tears in my blue eyes as he glared down at me angrily.

"Now listen here, you! When I say I don't wanna talk about it, I mean I don't wanna talk about it! Understood? So shut yer trap and keep movin'!" He spat as he glared at me, "Or do ye' want me to hurt ye'?"

I shook my head and winced in fear.

"Then come on," He then pushed himself off of me and continued walking towards the door.

I sniffed and wiped my tears before releasing a shaky sigh and jogging to catch up with the man.

"Here it is. The lodgin' house," The man said, "It's about five o'clock or so, so Mr. Kloppman should be up. Tell him ye' need to register and he'll give you a paper to sign. I assume you can read and write?"

"Um… Yeah," I said, as if that were hard to comprehend.

"Good, don't write like a girl, make it look kind of sloppy, most of the kids in there can't write," He explained. That was sad, "Good luck, and if anybody asks. You never saw me."

"What? Why not?" I asked.

"I've got a reputation to keep here, kid," The man said, "If you tell 'em you got directions here, tell them a tall, older man gave them to ye'."

I looked him up and down, smiling sarcastically when I saw he wasn't a very tall guy.

"Fine. I'm guessing you don't want your name to be known to me, either?" I asked.

"You'll probably see me tomorrow, and the boys will introduce us," The man said, "So I'll just go 'head and give it to ye'. It's Oscar. Oscar Delancey. Don't wear it out."

"Oscar Delancey. Got it. I'm Leah by the way," I introduced myself.

"Leah huh? Well, for now on, you go by Lee. But they'll probably give ye' a nickname, so don't act all upset about it when they do," Oscar said, "Till next time, Lee."

And with that, he turned on his heel and started off back to his place.

I sighed and watched him disappear into the darkness before turning towards the newsboys lodging house. I shrugged and adjusted my cap before sucking in a deep breath of courage and stepping into the building.

 **Yes, Oscar will be one of her friends. She's going to try and make him become nicer. It's gonna be a while, though. The next chapter, she'll meet all the newsies and things like that. Till next time. :D**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own Newsies or it's characters, I only own Leah, Billy, and Patrick.**

 **A/N - I actually am going to make this an Oscar/OC story, sorry if you don't like that. But I love Oscar and the Delancey's don't get much credit. Anyway, soon there will be more interaction with the newsies and Leah, and I will also introduce some more OC's soon. Les will be thrown into the end of this chapter, because there's just not enough adorable children in this story. :) I hope you like this chapter and please R &R. :D**

 _"_ _Leah darling, I'm home!" My mother called from the front door, which made me smile a bright, wide smile._

 _I set down my wooden toys and got to my feet before dashing to the front door, running as fast as my stubby legs could carry me. My small feet pounded the wooden floor loudly, my little brothers old shoes smacking the floor forcefully._

 _As I came around the corner, I saw my mother, standing in the kitchen, smiling._

 _"_ _Mommy!" I cried, running into her arms._

 _I wrapped my small, skinny arms around her neck as she bent down to my height to hug me. She wrapped her arms around my waist and kissed me on the side of the face quickly before she pulled away and smiled down at me._

 _"_ _I've got someone to introduce you to," She smiled before she slowly pulled away from me._

 _I looked over her shoulder and saw a tall, large man with charcoal colored hair that was parted in the middle. He had a cleanly shaven face, but long, thick sideburns on the sides of his head. He was wearing clean clothes and he smelled of musk._

 _I smiled a dimpled smile up at him and held out my hand, "Hi. I'm Leah."_

 _"_ _Well, hello there, Leah. I've heard so much about you," The man smiled, shaking my small hand in his large one, "I'm Patrick. And this is my son, Billy."_

 _I turned and looked at the boy, who kind of gave me an unamused sort of glare, so I just frowned and averted eye contact._

 _He was a small boy, smaller than me. He had dark, slicked back hair and bright blue eyes, and he wore a tucked in shirt and fancy shoes._

 _"_ _Leah sweetie, why don't you go show Billy your toys?" My mother asked sweetly, her smile never failing to make me feel warm and happy._

 _"_ _Okay. Come on, Billy. I have some horses, and soldier toys," I smiled, grabbing his grimy hand and tugging him after me towards my bedroom._

"Boy!" A strained voice suddenly snapped me out of my thoughts.

I jerked my head up and caught eyes with an older looking man. He was slouched over the bar and he had a large book in front of him.

"Sorry?" I said, not really thinking about it at all.

"Can I help you with something?" He asked simply.

"Um, yes, I'd like to register," I said nervously.

"Okay," The old man said, flipping some pages in the book and grabbing an ink pen before looking back up at me, "What's your name?"

"U-uh… Lee Viktor," I said, making up a last name on the spot.

"Okay…" The old man scribbled that down before looking back up at me, "How old are you?"

"17, sir," I said simply.

"No need for formalities," He said, "It'll just be Kloppman to you, son."

I grunted in acknowledgement and nodded, pursing my lips and clenching my fists by my sides in nervousness.

"And lastly, do you have any medical problems I should know about?" Mr. Kloppman asked.

"No," I said, feeling weird not ending the sentence with 'sir.'

"Alright, well, you got here just in time," Kloppman said, shutting the book loudly, "It's time to wake the boys up. C'mon. Follow me."

I nodded and swallowed thickly, nervously as I trailed behind Mr. Kloppman. He went up the stairs and led me into a large room where there seemed to be dozens of beds that held God knows how many boys.

"Wake up! Wake up!" Kloppman yelled, grabbing a cane from against the wall and smacking the wall with it, "Up, up, up! It's time to wake up!"

I looked around as the boys starting moaning and groaning in irritation with the sudden loud noise. I watched as a few of the boys sat up and looked over at me.

"Lee," Kloppman called as he came to stand next to me, "Snitch just switched beds and now bunks with Bumlets, go introduce yourself to Itey, you'll be bunking with 'im."

I nodded as Mr. Kloppman started smacking the footboards of the beds as he walked by, yelling for the boys to get up and out of bed to start a brand new day of selling papers.

I looked towards the bed where Mr. Kloppman pointed and saw a lanky looking boy with dark hair sitting up in bed, stretching. I let out a heavy, nervous breath before heading over to the bed; I stopped in front of him and adjusted my shoulders, sighing, before I held out my hand, "Hi, I'm Lee. I'm new here."

"No kiddin'," The boy said, but he soon smiled and shook my hand firmly, "The names Itey. I'm guessin' Kloppman sent ye' ova here to tell me youse me new bunk mate, eh?"

I nodded as I tried to comprehend his thick New York accent, "Yeah, I assume so."

"Youse not from 'round here, are ye'?" Itey asked, smirking a little, "Ye' don't sound local. You're from Ohia' or somethin'."

"I am from Ohio, actually," I said, nodding and pursing my lips a little, "Cincinnati to be exact."

"Ha!" Itey suddenly laughed, clasping his hands together, "My ol' mans from Cincinnati! Small world, huh?"

"Yeah," I chuckled nervously, I liked Itey already.

"Alright boys, get ready! Carry the banner, sell the papers!" Kloppman called before he left the room.

"Hey," A deeper voice suddenly said from behind me, "Who're you?"

I turned around and came face to face, or should I say, face to chest, with a tall, dark haired boy who was fixing his suspenders.

"Jackie, this is Lee, me new bunk mate!" Itey introduced as he stood; he wasn't very tall.

"Hey Lee, what's your story?" Jack asked, putting all his weight on one foot.

"W-what?" I stuttered.

"'W-what?'" Jack mocked and chuckled, "I mean, what's yer background? Yer story?"

"Oh, um… Dad died, lived with my Mom, she married an abusive man, I ran away, now here I am," I said, shrugging as I decided to tell the true story.

"Yeah, I knew somethin' like dat musta happened. You're too noivous and awkward," Jack said, making weird signals with his hands, "Well uh, why don't youse ride wit me taday, huh? I can show ye' da ropes and all dat kind o' stuff."

"Um… Yeah, sure. Sounds good," I said, shrugging my shoulders, feeling very awkward.

"Good, good… Well, get ready, we'll be headin' out in about five minutes," Jack said, smacking me hard on the back before walking away, his hands in his pockets.

I winced when he smacked me on the back, but played it off as normal. I couldn't act like such a girl while I was here, I needed to act as manly as possible. It should be easier for me, as I was always such a tomboy as a kid.

"Good luck, Stutters," Itey said, smacking me on the arm gently before turning and walking away.

Stutters? I stutter one time, and they call me stutters? Please tell me it's just Itey, and not everyone. I released a heavy sigh and shook my head before I went back to the door I came in.

"Alright, so da key to sellin' papes is to juice up da story a little," Jack said as he led me down the street. He made me get fifty papers, when I only wanted twenty, and he told me I'd sell every one of them. I didn't believe I would, but he told me he had faith in me.

"What do you mean, 'juice up the story a little?'" I asked, hoisting my papers over my shoulder like Jack had done to his.

"I mean… Okay, look at dis," He pulled his papes down and looked at the front page, "Da headline 'Fiya on 52nd, and here below it, it says 'wounds three and burns down portion of school.' Now what ye' need ta say when presenting' da paper, is somethin' like… 'Fiya on 52nd… kills three, burns down half of school.'"

"But… That's not what happened," I said, "That's lying."

"Jeez. How many times do I haf to say dis ta people? It's not lyin', look at it as improvin' da truth a little," Jack said, propping his papers back up on his broad shoulders.

I heaved a heavy breath and shrugged my frail shoulders, deciding not to argue with the boy, "I guess I can live with that."

"Yeah ye' can, it'll be alright," Jack said, "You'll be a whiz at sellin' papes, just you watch."

"Yeah, whatever," I chuckled, letting a small smile actually grace my lips for once. It seems like forever since I smiled last, but it's actually only been a few hours. It's been a long day and night.

Me and Jack just went down the street, selling papers and going on with our day. It only took about two hours and I had sold nearly half my papers. Jack was almost out of his, too. I wondered how he had gone through his so fast? I know he's been doing this for a while, but he sure went through those papers fast.

I continued to sell papers, getting down to about twenty-three before my stomach started to grumble. I looked down at my stomach and rested a gentle hand on it. I guess all this running away has really put a damper in my eating schedule.

"Gettin' hungry?" Jack asked.

"Yeah," I said, clearing my throat a little bit, "Haven't eaten for a while."

"Well, want ta go Tibby's?" Jack asked, stopping in front of me.

"I don't care where we eat, as long as they serve food," I complained, making Jack chuckle.

"Yeah, alright. C'mon kid, let's go," Jack smiled, throwing his arm around my shoulders before directing me in the direction of Tibby's.

"So den, all da sudden, outta nowhere, here comes Brooklyn! And behind 'em, hundreds of newsies! All dere to participate in da strike! It was great! I felt like I actually accomplished somethin'! Somethin' worth while, y'know?" Jack said, smiling a little bit at the memory.

I smiled and nodded, "Yeah, I know what you mean. I once saved a kid from drowning. It always feel good to do something… Good."

"Yeah," Jack smiled, but soon shrugged off the memories and slouched back in his seat, "So, what's a more in depth story 'bout yourself? Like… Where ye' come from? What was yer family like? Did ye' like yer family? Do ye' got a special goil back home?"

I turned a little pink in the cheeks and averted eye contact, "No, I don't have a girl. Never have."

"Really? Yer kinda good lookin', you've had to have had one at some point or anudda," Jack smiled, leaning back in his seat a little.

"Nope, no girlfriends…" I said awkwardly.

"Well, what about yer family? What were dey like?" Jack asked, looking into my eyes deeply.

"Well… I used to live with my mother, father, and my younger brother… But, after my Dad died, my brother ran away… I have no idea where he's at. Before I ran away, I lived with my Mom and my step-dad, and his son," I explained, "His father was abusive, and… Before I ran away, he tried… To hurt me, but his son got him away from me before he could do any damage. I then booked it out the window and ran all the way across the city."

"Where did ye' live before?" Jack asked.

"Let's just say I had to go through the Bronx to get here," I said.

"Ooh… Tough break, kid," Jack said, "At least ye' made it, though, huh?"

"Yeah…" I trailed off looking down at the table.

"Ever been out of da state?" Jack just kept asking questions.

"Yeah, used to live in Ohio, and my grandparents lived in Iowa, and my other grandparents lived in Pittsburg," I said, "I also have an Aunt way down in North Carolina, but I've only been there once."

"Is it nice in North Carolina?" Jack asked.

"The part I was in, there were a lot a country folk," I said, "A bunch of cowboys and all that."

"Cowboys, huh?" Jack asked, "Ever been ta Santa Fe?"

"No…" I said, "But my step-brother has."

"Really? Did he ever talk about it?" Jack asked, seemingly excited all the sudden.

"Yeah, he went there with his mother once," I said, "He said he used to dance a lot and he says the towns folk were real nice. He also got into some fights, though. He says the sunrise and sunset are real pretty, and they have horses, big ones. All the people there are tough, but real nice, too."

"After the newsies, I'm gonna get married… I'm gonna get married ta Sarah and move ta Santa Fe with her, and we're gonna have lots of babies. Six of 'em. Three boys and three girls. One of 'em are goin' ta be named afta Davie, and anudda after me mother," Jack dreamed with a watery smile.

"Who's Sarah?" I asked, a teasing smile plastered onto my face.

"Sarah? She's Davie's sister," Jack said, "Davie and Les were a big part of da strike. You'll meet dem lata. They're coming by da lodgin' house tonight, and Sarah'll be with dem. She'll like youse, she likes sensitive guys."

I rolled my eyes and wrapped up the rest of my hotdog, "Alright, let's go. I gotta sell the rest of my papes."

"A'right Jitters, let's go," Jack said, standing and grabbing his trash and tossing it in the bin near the door.

As we walked out the door and started back down the street, we heard a rustling in the alley nearby. We both stopped and glanced over towards the alley as we started hearing the scuffling of boots, and it was getting louder, which means it was getting closer.

Soon enough, there was a smaller figure that ran out of the alley and was looking over his shoulder. He kept running until he ran straight into Jack's chest. He turned back to face Jack as Jack grabbed his shoulders and pushed him away from him a little bit.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't me ol' friend, Oscar Delancey," Jack smirked smugly, crossing his strong arms across his chest.

"Whadda ye' want, Kelly?" Oscar snapped, glaring angrily up at Jack.

"Whadda I want? You ran inta me!" Jack chuckled, "The real question is, what the hell are ye' doin'?"

"I'm runnin', what's it look like?" Oscar spat, catching my eye out of the corner of his eye; he turned to me, "Who's this runt?"

"Who're you callin' a runt, Oscar?" Jack chuckled, "You ain't such a giant youself!"

"Shut yer trap, Kelly!" Oscar snapped, turning to me, "Who're you?"

He was really good at acting like he'd never seen me before, it was almost as if he forgot we met last night; I cleared my throat before responding, "I'm Lee."

"Hello Lee, you're quite little for a guy ain't ye'?" Oscar snapped, smirking a little.

"Like Jack said, you ain't so big yourself," I said. Since when did I start saying 'ain't?'

Oscar made a growling like sound at me as he crossed his arms before he spotted my half eaten hotdog in my hand that was wrapped in a piece of old newspaper. He dropped his angry expression slightly and swallowed thickly, dropping his arms by his sides as Jack continued to egg him on.

"So, ye' find a job yet, Oscar?" He asked the smaller boy, his smug expression still plastered onto his face.

"Uh… No, n-not yet," Oscar said, his eyes still trained on my food.

As Jack continued to ask him questions, I looked down at the hotdog in my right hand and then back up at Oscar and into his dark eyes. He looked starved. I should know, he's quite little, not just in height. He looked frail, too frail. When was the last time he ate?

"C'mon Jitters, let's go. Not in da mood ta' be around da rats today," Jack said, motioning his head for me to follow.

"Um… You go ahead, I gotta sell the rest of these papers," I said.

Jack looked at Oscar then back at me before nodding, "A'right, youse pretty tough. But if he gives ye' any trouble, just punch 'im up here on da left shoulda, I figured out dat dat's his soft spot. Good luck, see ye' lata'."

Jack then turned on his heel and ran back off down the street. I sighed and waited for Jack to disappear before I turned back to Oscar.

"Why'd ye' wanna stay here? I know ye' ain't gonna sell da rest of dose papes dere. There ain't no one left on dis street," Oscar said, glaring at me.

"Because, Jack would've given me hell if he saw me give you this," I said, handing him the hot dog.

He let his face slack as he looked down at the food, his mouth seemed to water at the mere sight of it. But he soon toughened back up and glared at me again, "I don't need ye' charity. I can handle meself!"

"Oscar, for the love of God, you're starving, just take it," I ordered, my tough side coming to surface.

He kept his glare on me, but his face soon softened again. And then, all the sudden, he snatched the food out of my hand and immediately started chowing down. He ate it quickly, quicker than I've ever seen anything eaten before.

After he finished, he wiped his mouth and swallowed the remaining bits of food and looked up at me with his dark brown eyes and said, "Sorry."

I smiled and tilted my head a little, "No need to apologize. When's the last time you ate anything?"

"'Bout a week ago," Oscar replied, wiping his mouth with his sleeve.

"A week?!" I exclaimed, actually a little surprised. I was expecting him to say two or three days, not a week, "Jeez Oscar! Come with me, I'll buy you lunch."

"N-no, like I said I don't want ye' charity," Oscar stuttered, but he failed to sound intimidating.

"Oscar, come on, let me buy you lunch," I pleaded, "You look like you're about to cripple at any given moment."

"I can fend for myself!" Oscar called, jabbing his thumb into his chest as he glared at me.

"Fine, I guess you're not hungry, then," I said, shrugging my shoulders and lifting my remaining papers over my shoulder before starting to walk away.

"Wait!" He called after me, seemingly really needing my attention.

I turned back to him and stepped back over to him, smiling, "C'mon, let's go to Tibby's."

Finally back at the lodging house. It's been a really long day, but at least I sold all my papers. All fifty of them.

I had an hour long lunch with Oscar, who was very rude, but there was something sweet underneath that tough exterior. I liked him, even if the newsies didn't.

I was in the washroom right now, changing into a different pair of clothes. The ones I had on smelled like they hadn't been washed in years, and truth be told, they probably hadn't. The newsies gave me some new clothes when I got here, some that would fit me better.

I threw my cap to the side and shook out my now short brown hair. It looked so weird. I looked so weird. Yesterday, I was clean and dressed nicely, today I'm filthy and look like a boy. I let out a heavy sigh and started unbuttoning my blue button up shirt as I looked in the mirror above the sink.

I wondered if Billy ever got away from Patrick. I hope he did, but I also hoped he didn't, because if he was there, he could at least help to protect my mother. I hope she was okay. I then realized that she was probably devastated. First, her son, and now her daughter. Both of them runaways. I felt tears sting my eyes as I let the shirt fall off my shoulders loosely.

Suddenly, the door squeaked open. I gasped and tried grabbing for my shirt, but I couldn't get it in time. I crossed my arms over my chest as I saw a small boy standing in the doorway. He quickly pushed his small hands to cover his charming brown eyes and his face turned a bright red, "I'm sorry, miss! I didn't know there was anyone in here! Honest!"

I reached over and grabbed the new shirt that Racetrack had given me and pulled it over my shoulders, buttoning it up to my throat before clearing my throat, "You can uncover your eyes now, I'm decent."

The boy slowly let his hands fall down by his sides, his tiny hands clenched into fists nervously. His face was still bright red as he looked up at me, swallowing thickly, "Ma'am… What are you doing dressed as a boy?"

He was obviously trying to change the subject from what had just happened; I said, "Come here, kid."

I grabbed his shoulders and pulled him into the washroom and closed the door behind him. I looked down at his cute face and put my small hands on his frail shoulders, looking into his bright eyes.

"Can you keep a secret?" I asked, and he nodded frantically, "Ok… Well, you see, the thing is… I've run away from home, and I have nowhere to go. This is the only place I could come that was safe. I have to pretend to be a boy to live here…" I just rambled on quickly, not stopping to take a breath, "So, if you could please, not say anything about this, I would be so grateful."

"Alright, I'll keep your secret," The boy said, shrugging his frail shoulders and smiling a sweet smile gently.

"Thank you so much!" I let out a nervous breath that I hadn't realized I'd been holding and slumped my shoulders.

"But you're going to have to tell them some time, y'know?" The boy said, "You can't pretend to be a boy forever, it's gotta be tough."

"It is… I'll tell them when I feel ready," I said, "I promise… I'm Leah by the way, but the boys call me Lee or Jitters."

"Hiya Jitters, I'm Les," The boy smiled, shaking my hand.

"Les? Jack told me about you today, and your brother… Davie, was it?" I asked curiously, releasing his hand.

"That's him! The walkin' mouth!" Les beamed happily, making me giggle, "The guys are playing poker. Want to come watch with me?"

"Um… Sure, let me just grab my hat," I said, turning to the sink to grab my battered up hat. I smacked it on top of my brown, wavy locks before smiling down at Les and following him downstairs.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N - Hello peoples! I introduce a new OC in this chapter, his name is Angelo and he's a twelve year old New Yorker with a bad attitude. There will be some newsie interaction in the next chapter, I promise. Please R &R, please! **

**Disclaimer: Anything you recognize is Disney's. All OC's are mine.**

"Wake up! Wake up! Time to sell the papers! Wake up everybody!" Kloppman suddenly yelled.

I jumped straight up and smacked my head on the bunk above mine, causing Skittery to groan. I mumbled to myself and rubbed my forehead with my small, grimy hand and sniffed.

"Ye' a'right?" Itey suddenly asked.

I looked over at the dark haired boy sitting in front of me and nodded, "Yeah, fuckin' old man scared the shit out of me."

Itey laughed a little, letting a wide smile come across his handsome face, "I knew ye' had some street rat in ye'!"

"Yeah, well I'm full of surprises," I mumbled, still rubbing my head and furrowing my dark eyebrows in frustration.

"Hey, ye' wanna sell wit me taday? I'se gotta good sellin' spot a few minutes from Brooklyn Bridge," Itey explained, "I won't waste ye' time."

"Yeah, sure," I said, pulling my suspenders up over my shoulders and leaning forward, placing my hands on my knees, "I'll meet ye' at the distribution center."

"You headin' out early?" Itey asked, knitting his dark eyebrows together in curiosity.

"Yeah, I'm not really in the mood for a shower this morning," I said, shrugging my frail shoulders roughly, "I'll see ye' later."

"A'right, see ye'," Itey said, standing and walking towards the washroom.

The truth was, I was really wanting a shower, but I couldn't get one right now. They were always rushing, and the boys would storm right in the washroom unannounced while someone else was using it. I'd have to wait and take one tonight when they were all out screwing around. I figured I'd try and sell my papers earlier during the day than the others so I could get back here early to shower, even if it is a quick one.

I grabbed my hat off the bedside table and smacked it onto my head before releasing a heavy sigh and standing. I walked around the bed, pushing my way through Skittery and Mush's fight for the towel. I made my way to the door and walked downstairs and out the door.

As I stood right outside the door, I pushed my hand into my pocket and searched for my pack of cigarettes.

I've been here a month now, I should tell you. I was used to the boys mishaps and street talk now, and I even picked up a bit of an attitude. I don't usually talk to the newsies unless I'm selling with them, that's why Itey made a remark about my language this morning.

I lit my cigarette up and placed it in between my teeth before putting the match out and throwing it onto the ground. I grabbed the cigarette between my finger and blew out a long string of smoke. I didn't inhale, I just liked the taste of it. I couldn't inhale anyway, I had asthma.

After standing around, kicking at the street for a few moments, I started to hear raised voices from down the street. One belonged to what sounded like a boy and the other a woman. I knitted my thick eyebrows together in a curious furrow before throwing my cigarette onto the street, stomping on the but with my booted foot before pushing my hands into the deep pockets of my pants and walking down the street towards the raised voices.

"Ellie, if you don't love me no more, I'm movin' ta' Cleveland!" I heard the boy's voice yell.

I walked around the corner and saw a woman and a boy, maybe around the age of thirteen, pointing up at her and yelling. I chuckled and leaned against the wall, looking on at the scene unfolding before me.

"I do love you, Elliot! You're missing the big picture! Just listen to me!" She tried desperately, but the boy shook his head, his dark hair falling into his matching eyes.

"No Ellie, you listen ta' me!" The boy yelled, "If you think ye' can just shack up wit some two-timin', drug-dealin', wife-beatin' piece a shit, then ye' obviously don't love me! I'm done with ye', Ellie!"

"Do not call me by my first name! I am your mother and you will respect me!" She yelled.

"You don't deserve my respect! If you can go against everythin' ye' eva taught me, then I can go against you!" The boy shouted.

"Don't you dare talk to me like that!" The woman scolded, smacking the boy so hard he fell over; this is when I took action.

"I don't think ye' should do that, miss," I said, "It ain't healthy. Not for you or the boy."

The woman looked over at me as her son sat on the ground, rubbing his stinging cheek tenderly, "And who are you?" The woman asked incredulously, the look on her face made you want to slap her yourself.

"I'm Jitters, at least that's what the boys call me," I said, walking over to her.

"Jitters? Well, what is your real name?" She asked, a smug smile playing across her face.

"For what you're doin' to the kid, you don't deserve my real name," I said, looking up at the taller woman; why was everyone taller than me?

"What we do here is our own business," The woman snapped.

I walked over to the kid, not responding to the woman's remark; I grabbed the kid's hand and pulled him to his feet.

"Thanks," He said, brushing himself off.

"Boy, I'd appreciate it if you left us alone and went on with your own business," The woman said, crossing her arms over her chest, trying to show authority.

"You'd like that, wouldn't ye'?" I smirked, looking over at her, "But you're forgetting one small detail."

"And what would that be?" She questioned.

"I don't care what ye' want," I said, furrowing my eyebrows, "What's up with your accent? Where are you from?"

"Maine, a small country town. Why do you need to know?" She asked, getting a little snappy with me.

"Because, you think telling people what to do in New York is actually going to work," I smiled, slumping my shoulders softly, "I'm guessing you grew up and lived in that 'small country town' your whole life?"

"Yes, but I still think even in New York, children should listen to the adults," The woman said, pursing her pink, puffy lips as if she thought she had won the battle.

"Wake up and smell the roses," I said, "You're in a whole new world, now."

"Where are your parents? I need to have a stern talking to with them," She snapped.

"Dad's dead, Mom's with a dead-beat drunk," I shrugged, "I'm alone, now."

"You mean… You don't have your parents?" She asked, her face becoming sad.

"Well, like I said, my Mom's with a dead-beat," I said, "I ran away."

"Well, you need to go back home," The woman exclaimed, "She's probably worried sick about you!"

"I know," I said, looking the woman in the eyes as she fell silent, "But she knows why I ran, and I'm sure if she were in my position at the time, she would've ran too."

"What happened that was so bad that you thought it was a good idea to run away?" The woman asked, knitting her blond eyebrows together in confusion.

"That's none of your business," I snapped, sending a glare her way, "Now, if you'd make nice with your son, I have a job to do."

"She ain't gonna make nice wit me! She thinks she can just storm inta' da city, take me under her wing, take care of me for several months, then shit on me! She's got anudda ting comin'!" The boy shouted, pointing a stern finger up at the woman.

"Fine, if you don't want to be with me anymore, then why don't you run away too?!" The woman cried, glaring at her son, but with a certain sadness in her blue eyes.

"Fine! I will!" With that, he spat on the ground next to his shoes, turned on his heel, and walked away down the street.

"A-Angelo darling! C-come back!" The woman called after her young son.

I looked up at her and slumped my shoulders, "Don't worry ma'am. I'm sure he'll come back," I still had some of my sensitive traits.

"I just don't want him wandering off in the street all alone like that, he could get hurt," The woman worried.

"I can stay with him, if you like?" I suggested, looking into the woman's blue eyes with my own.

"I don't know, I barely know you," The woman said, feeling a little hesitant.

"There's a newsboy lodging house around the corner. I live there," I explained, "I can keep a watch on him, me and some of the other newsboys. We all stick together, just like glue."

"Well… I guess I don't really have a choice, do I?" The woman said, nodding and releasing a stressed sigh, "Alright, but you'll make sure he's safe, right?"

"Absolutely," I smiled softly, straightening my back a little.

"Alright… Tell him I really do love him, and… Tell him I'll work it out with Freddy," She said, smiling a fake smile.

I nodded and smirked sadly, "Alright, I will."

With that, I turned on my heel and went back to the boy.

"So… How old are ye', kid?" I asked as I walked beside the boy, my papers over my shoulder; I had bought him ten papers to sell why we walked along the road.

"Twelve," He said, "I'll be thirteen in Octoba'."

I nodded, that was in a month. I was in a foul mood today, all I could think about was my younger brother. Today was his sixteenth birthday. September 16th, 1884, that was his birthdate. I remember when we were little, we used to get along so well.

"How old are you?" The boy asked suddenly, breaking me out of my thoughts and causing me to look over at the kid; he was tall for a twelve year old, probably just two inches shorter than me.

"Seventeen… Eighteen in November," I said simply, sighing a little at the end of my sentence, "Where ye' from?"

"Here in Manhattan," The boy said, "Born and raised on 51st."

"Raised by your father?" I asked, confused about his living arrangements.

"My grandparents," He said, "Me and my older brother and two sista's grew up here. My grandpa died a few years ago, and my gramma just died a couple a monts ago. That's why Ma' came back… To raise me."

"How old are your siblings?" I just kept asking questions.

"David's seventeen, Angela's sixteen, and Gigi's fourteen," He said, counting them off on his long fingers, "What 'bout you? Have any bruddas or sista's?"

"I have a younger brother, he's sixteen today actually…" I said, looking down sadly, "And I have older twins, they're a boy and a girl. They're twenty-four next month."

We continued down the street, every once in a while, I'd sell a paper, and every once in a while, Angelo would sell paper, but not as often as me, he wasn't very good at making up headlines.

"Hey! Jitters!" I heard a familiar New York accent.

I turned around and saw Oscar jogging to catch up with me. I smiled as he caught up, looking at me and then at Angelo, then back at me again.

"Who's this runt?" Oscar asked, his usual ratty snark coming to surface.

"Oscar, this is Angelo, he's my sellin' partner for the day," I smiled, putting a hand on Angelo's small shoulder that was covered by a brown coat, "Angelo, this is Oscar, my… Friend."

Oscar sent a quick smile my way, but soon let his usual glare come back to his face, "Yeah, hey."

"Hey," Angelo said awkwardly, tucking his papers closer to his body.

"Want ta' go ta' Tibby's? I'm payin'," Oscar asked, smiling a cocky smirk and crossing his arms.

"Wait. Did you finally get a job?" I asked, letting a gape come to my face.

"Yep. I'm back at da World," Oscar smiled, "I was working' downstairs wit da paper's taday, I'll be back at da desk tomorrow. Dem newsies better watch dere backs, because da Delancey bruddas are back."

"Morris too?" I asked.

"Yeah…" He nodded, stuffing his hands in his pockets, "Not real fond of it, but… At least we're back ta' work."

"Still not getting along with your brother, huh?" I questioned, smirking a little.

"Neh, he…" He started, but remembered Angelo was here and decided to tell me later, "I'll tell ye' when you're alone. Anyway, are ye' gonna take me up on me offa', or what?"

"Well, I gotta keep an eye on Angelo for his Mom, and…" I then remembered something very important, "Oh shit! Itey!"

"What 'bout Itey?" Oscar spat, seemingly disgusted at the very mention of a newsboys name.

"I told him I would sell with him today! God, I totally forgot!" I smacked myself on the forehead, "I'm sorry, Oscar, I gotta go. Maybe we can celebrate with a drink this weekend sometime? Saturday… Eight 'o clock. Meet me outside The World, we'll go to Vito's. How's that sound?"

"Yeah sure, go 'head, see ye' then," He said, motioning his hand around for me to go.

"Alright, see ye' this weekend, Oscar, and congratulations, you deserved this job," I smiled before taking Angelo down the street with me, leaving a disappointed Oscar in the street, alone.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N - I'm back! No, please, hold the applause. Oh, who am I kidding, nobody's clapping... Oh well, anyway... Here's another chapter, please read and review... Please review, I want to know how I'm doing! Please! Thanks for reading, enjoy! :)**

 **Disclaimer- I don't own Newsies or any of these wonderful characters, Disney does. The only characters I own are Leah (Jitters), Angelo, Fred, and Billy.**

I got back to the lodging house that night. After an unsuccessful search for Itey near the Brooklyn Bridge, I decided to just come back and get some sleep. I brought Angelo with me, figuring he's need a place to stay.

"Just go to the bar when we come inside, Kloppman should be standing there," I explained to the young boy, "He'll ask you a few simple questions, just answer them quickly and then he'll send you upstairs for some sleep."

"A'right," The boy nodded as we walked into the two story building; we immediately saw Kloppman at the bar surrounded by a bunch of newsies, "Hey Kloppman!"

The older man looked up and smiled at me, "Jitters! How many papes did ye' sell today?"

"Fifty, as usual," I smiled, smacking Angelo on the back, "Kloppman, I'd like to introduce ye' to Angelo, he needs a place to stay and he wants to sell papes, so I thought… Why not bring him here?"

"Very bright, you are, Jitters," Kloppman rolled his eyes as he spoke sarcastically, "Come here, Angelo."

Angelo climbed up into a seat and started answering Kloppman's questions. I smiled and walked away from the boy and started my way down the crowd of newsies.

"Heya Jitters!" I heard a child's voice cry, and I knew who it was immediately.

I smiled and turned to face Snipeshooter, "Hey Snipe, how're ye'?"

"I'm fine, I sold all fifty papes taday, and boy 'ave I gotta story ta' tell you," He started, but I caught Itey out the corner of my eye and put my hand up to silence the boy.

"Maybe later, Snipe, I've got something to take care of," I said, turning to the boy, "Sorry."

I then started walking away from the boy and towards Itey, who was talking to Racetrack, Davie, Bumlets and Les. Snipeshooter just shrugged and starting telling his story to Blink and Jack.

I walked up to the group of boys and pushed my way between Itey and Les, who was sitting on a stool next to me, listening intently to Itey's story.

"Hey guys," I smiled, looking over at all of them.

"Hey Jitters," The all said in unison, except for Les, who instead cried, "Jitters!" A moment later, excitedly.

"Hey Les!" I smiled, messing up the kid's hat.

"Can I fly?" He asked hopefully, clenching his fists in excitement.

"In a minute, kid," I smiled, "Just sit tight."

"Alright," He smiled, slumping his shoulders and relaxing.

"Hey Itey, I'm real sorry about today," I started suddenly, turning to the dark haired boy, "I was going to get my papers, but I found this kid and his mother arguing, and… She smacked him, so I got into it. I helped the kid and he's over there," I said, turning around a little and pointing to Angelo who was sipping on some kind of drink, I assumed it was beer, and talking to Snitch and Skittery.

"That's alright," Itey smiled, waving his hand, brushing it off, "I figured it had to be something with good reason for you to just NOT show up, you're always early."

I chuckled, "Yeah, I know. I'm a pushover."

"Nah, yer just a good guy," Itey said, slinging his arm over my shoulders.

"Awe…" A chorus of mock adoration echoed throughout the lodging house.

"Ah, cheese it! All of ye'!" Itey called, glaring around the room.

I laughed and turned to Les, "Alright kid, ye' want to fly?"

"Yeah!" Les cried, beaming and throwing his arms up.

I nodded and picked him up, he weighed a feather, and put him over my shoulder. He was facing the same way I was, his belly laying against my shoulder and his arms thrown out to the side. I then pushed my way through the crowd and found a clear spot before I starting running around the room, letting Les pretend to fly like a bird. He giggled the entire time and occasionally, he let out a 'woohoo!'

After a minute of 'flying' around the room, I set him down his feet and ruffled his cap.

"Satisfied?" I smiled.

"Absolutely!" He called, smiling and mock saluting me.

I giggled and ruffled his cap once more before looking back at the newsies. They were having a good time, drinking, smoking and just having a good time. I smiled and turned back to Les, "Alright kid, can you do something for me?"

"Want me to guard the washroom door, again?" Les asked, his big brown eyes making my heart melt.

"If ye' could?" I added, smiling a little sweetly.

"Yeah, I don't mind, but can you buy me ice cream tomorrow if I do?" Les asked with a tight lipped grin, clasping his hands together and swaying on the balls of his feet.

"Sure kid, anything for you," I smiled, "Come on, let's go."

The next day, I stood at the front gates of The World with Les, Skittery, and Snipeshooter. Snipeshooter had proceeded to tell me his story about an older man trying to steal one of his papers yesterday, and how he 'showed him real good.' I just scoffed and rolled my eyes the entire time, not believing anything he said. He was a complete bull-shitter.

Me and Skittery had gotten pretty close over the last month, he was kind of like a brother to me, all these guys were.

I seemed to get along fairly well with Itey, as well. He was a bit of a smart ass, but he was an overall sweet guy. But I seemed to get along with the smaller kids better than anyone else, such as Les, Snipeshooter, etc.

"Move aside! Move aside!" I heard a voice cry and feet shuffling behind me.

I turned around and faced the newsies all glaring at Oscar and Morris Delancey. They looked like thugs. They were each wearing bowler hats and vests, and they were both wearing their signature glare.

"Oscar? Morris? What are your two ferret's doin' hea?" Boots cried in the form of a complaint.

"We were hired back!" Oscar spat, looking around at all the newsies, a devious smile on his face as he adjusted his belt.

"Why? You guys were fired for abusin' us!" Crutchie suddenly cried, backing up a little.

He had told me what the Delancey's had done to him, I felt so bad for him. I sent Crutchie a sympathetic look and stepped towards the front of the newsies and looked between Oscar and Morris, "How's it goin', ferret?"

I directed that at Morris, and he sent me a snarling glare as he tried to jump at me, but Oscar held him back. I smiled smugly and crossed my arms, putting all my weight on the balls of my feet as I looked at the two brothers.

"What's wrong, Morris? Need your diaper changed?" I cracked sarcastically, earning a few chuckles from the guys behind me.

"I'll gut you, ye' little shrimp!" Morris snarled, trying to jump at me, but Oscar kept holding him back.

"Calm down, Morris! Ye' wanna get us fired on our first day back?" Oscar snapped, grabbing his brother around the middle and pulling him back.

Oscar sent me a glare that told me to stop antagonizing and go on with my day regularly. I rolled my eyes and nodded my head towards the gate, "Are you guys going to open the gate, or what?"

Morris huffed and wrestled his arms out of Oscar's smaller ones before snarling at me and pushing past all us newsies to get to the gate. I turned to Les and wrapped an arm around his shoulders, pulling him into my side protectively and ruffling his cap.

The gate then creaked open and slowly swung open and then all the newsies flooded into the distribution center. I kept my arm around Les as I walked up to the ramp and waited my turn in line as Les leaned his head into my side and kicked his foot.

All the newsies waited in line and got their papes. Jack got his usual fifty, as did Race, and Crutchie got his usual thirty.

"Forty papes, please," I smiled and slammed forty cents on the desk, stuffing my hands in my pockets and waiting.

I looked over at Morris and Oscar and winked, still wearing a smile, causing both them to smile and roll their eyes. Me and Morris didn't get along too well, but he could stand me well enough. He, along with all the newises, excluding Les, didn't know my true identity. Les keeps on telling me that I need to tell to tell them about my true self, but I couldn't figure out how to tell them. I was scared they were going to hate me, and I didn't want that. I loved them. Itey, Bumlets, Skittery… I couldn't bare that.

After I got my papes, I thanked the older gentleman and went off to sell with Les.

Itey, Bumlets, and Skittery all had sold their papes by five that afternoon and were now running down the street after having a bite to eat at Tibby's.

"Did ye' see da look on 'is face?" Cried Itey as he did one circle around a lamppost, "I'se thought 'e was gonna kill me!"

Skittery rolled his eyes when Bumlets chuckled and stuffed his hands into his pockets as he continued down the street, ahead of the two bumbling boys. He huffed and kicked a rock as he looked around at the vacant street, there wasn't a man, woman nor child in sight. It was dinner time for families, so most likely that's why there was no one. Something then caught Skittery's eye.

"Hey… Hey guys," Skittery called back to the two laughing newsboys as he pulled his hands out of his pockets and stopped in the street, "Check dis out."

He jogged ahead of the two and went to the brick wall right next to an alley and looked up at the paper posted on it. It looked too familiar.

"Guys, come 'ere!" He called pleadingly, not taking his eyes off the poster.

"What are youse so upset about?" Itey asked as he furrowed his dark eyebrows and stood next to the taller boy, Bumlets standing on the other side.

"Yeah, youse sound weird… What da matta'?" Bumlets asked, crossing his strong arms.

"Does this look familiar to youse two?" Skittery asked, tearing the poster off the wall and shoving it into Bumlet's hands.

The taller boy looked down at the paper and smiled, "Yeah, it looks like Jitters."

"Yeah, she's got that same nose, and brow," Itey said, smiling and referring to the girl on the poster.

"No, it's too similar," Skittery cried, looking wide-eyed down at the picture.

"Could be 'is sister or somethin'," Itey shrugged, followed by a 'yeah' by Bumlets.

"No… No one looks that much like their sista'," Skittery snapped, "Does one of youse gotta pen or somethin'?"

Itey pulled out a pencil and handed it to Skittery, who snatched that and the picture out of his hands and pushed the picture onto the wall. He then proceeded to color in the background of the photo, covering up the long, flowing brown hair, and he drew a newsies cap onto the girl before throwing the pencil back at Itey and shoving the picture into both his and Bumlet's faces.

"Oh my God…"


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I don't own Newsies or any characters from it.**

"Did you see his face?" I laughed, tears falling from my eyes as I walked into the lodging house with Les by my side; he was laughing all the same.

"Yeah…He—He was gonna cry!" Les laughed, wiping a tear from his eye; this made me laugh harder.

I bent over and held my stomach as I laughed, wiping the tears from my eyes. After a moment of laughing hysterically, I evened out my breathing and turned to Les, standing up straight.

"Jeez… Alright, let's go see what the guys are up to," I smiled, patting the kid on the back and going for the stairs.

As we reached the top and entered the bunk house, it was alarmingly quiet, and all the newsies, for some reason, were all crowded around one bed, mine and Itey's bed. I furrowed my brow in curiosity and looked down at Les, who knitted his eyebrows together and shimmied out of my grip before stepping over to the bed.

He pushed his way through the crowd of newsies to see what was going on, and only a moment later, he returned.

He grabbed my hand and tugged on my arm and I looked down at him, "They found a picture of you."

"So?" I shrugged my frail shoulders and smiled a little, worrying a tad.

"A picture of you as a girl," Les said, eyes wide.

I now became wide-eyed myself. I swallowed thickly, nervously as I went stiff. Oh no, this was not how I wanted to tell them. I looked over at the large group of newsboys and let out a nervous, shaky breath before going over to them.

"Hey guys," I said nervously, scratching the back of my head and taking off my cap, letting my short brown hair fall into my blue eyes.

All eyes were suddenly on me. I looked around at all my friends, some eyes looked hurt, others looked sad, while others just looked plain confused. I huffed and smiled nervously before Skittery pushed his way to the front of the group, his dark eyebrows knitted together in… Anger?

"What da hell is dis?" He snapped, shoving the picture in my face.

It was a picture of me taken not long before I ran away; my hair was down and long and I wore light make-up, I also was wearing a long flowing blue dress and a golden locket around my neck. I closed my eyes and looked down sadly, afraid to see the looks on their faces.

"Is dat you, Jitters?" Someone called from the group.

"Or should we say, Leah?" Skittery snapped, crossing his arms.

"Yes… That's me…" I said quietly, but loud enough for everyone to hear me.

A few gasped and a few whispered to each other, and a few just exchanged looks of surprise. I sighed and sniffled sadly before looking up slightly.

"I just… I didn't know how to tell you! But I was going to tell you, don't worry! I was!" I cried, looking around at all the newsies.

"Did anyone know? Before us?" Skittery asked.

"Um… Les knew," I said, and debated whether or not I should tell them Oscar knew or not, "And… So does Oscar."

"What?! Dat ferret knew before us?!" Skittery cried, feeling betrayed.

"Only because he's the one that found me! I didn't tell him, he helped me disguise myself," I admitted.

"Oscar? Da lyin', backstabbin', cheatin', little runt of a man dat hates our guts? Dat Oscar?" Skittery snapped, slumping his shoulders and letting his arms fall down by his sides.

"Yeah… That Oscar," I sighed, looking down once more briefly before looking back up at Skittery, "But I have good reason for not telling you guys!"

"Well, I don't wanna hear it!" Skittery then threw down the poster and turned on his heel; he marched towards the open window and climbed out onto the fire escape.

I let the tears roll down my face as I watched the angry boy sit down on the railing and look out to the city. I then turned my tearful, sad face back to the others, "Guys… I'm sorry…"

Itey stepped out of the crowd and looked me in the eye with his own sad, but somehow happy brown ones before he smiled a small, accepting smile before holding out his arms for a hug.

I smiled and chuckled a little before diving into his arms, my eyes still letting the tears fall down my cheeks. I buried my head into Itey's shoulder and let the tears continue to fall, just happy someone accepted me.

Soon enough, it was one big newsie group hug, excluding Jack, Davie and Skittery. After a minute of hugging, we all pulled away from each other and I looked around the room.

"Where's Jack?" I asked.

"Right hea'," A voice suddenly said from the doorway.

I turned my head and looked at the door, and saw Jack and Davie perched inside the doorway, both their arms crossed. I smiled nervously and scratched the back of my head, "Oh… Hey Jack… Davie…"

Jack chuckled and shook his head, patting Davie on the back before they both made their way over to me and the other newsies, "We don't cares if youse a goil. If youse were disguisin' yours self, den ye' must have good reason."

"I do, I just have to explain. Trust me, it all makes sense," I said, trying ease the tension in the room, "But…" I looked over my shoulder at Skittery still sitting on the fire escape before looking back to the other newsies sadly, "I think I should—"

"Go 'head, he always takes tings da worst," Jack smiled, motioning his hand for me to go to Skittery.

"Alright… I'll be back in a few minutes," I smiled before turning on my heel and going to the open window.

I climbed outside and stood behind Skittery, who was looking out towards the city, his face still angry. I sighed and opened my mouth to speak, but he beat me to it.

"Why didn't youse just tell us ye' needed some place ta stay? We would've undastood," Skittery said, still not looking up at me.

"Would you?" I questioned, raising an eyebrow in curiosity.

Skittery sighed sadly and shook his head, "I'se don't understand why youse couldn't of told us soona'."

"Because… I was afraid you guys would hate me or something… I didn't want that to happen," I said, looking down sadly as I sat down next to Skittery.

"Why would ye' tink dat?" He asked, finally looking over at me, his angry look turning to one of sympathy.

"Because… I love you guys, and… If anything like that happened, I'd be crushed," I said sadly, looking over at my friend.

"We would neva' hate youse," Skittery said, giving me a sad look with his brown eyes.

"I know…" I didn't know what else to say, "I'm really sorry."

"I know," Skittery said, resting his hand on my wrist, "And… I'm sorry for getting mad. We still love youse… Like a brudda, or… Sista' now."

I giggled and wiped the tears from my eyes before wrapping my arms around Skittery's neck. He was hesitant, since he wasn't really an emotional person, but eventually he wrapped his strong arms around me and pulled me close. I smiled into his shoulder as I tightened my grip on him and let a few excess tears roll down my pink cheeks.

"A'right… A'right, enough of dis emotional bull," Skittery chuckled, sniffing as he pulled away after he rested a few friendly pats on my upper back; he looked me in the eye, "Ye' know me."

"Yeah, yeah, you're Skittery, the strong, macho newsie," I smiled, mocking his voice.

He chuckled and ruffled my shaggy mop top, "Yeah, and don't youse forget it."

I smiled and stood, offering my small hand to his, "Come on, let's go tell the others the story."

He nodded, smiled and grabbed my hand as I pulled him up to his feet. We then turned around and went back inside the lodging house to tell the others the reason I was hiding.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I don't own Newsies or any of their characters.**

The next day was the first real day of my new life. I woke up feeling happy for once, and I could finally be myself. Sarcastic, yet sweet and girly, like before. Well, with the added sarcasm. I woke up that morning, having slept in bed with one of the younger newsies called Blanket. He was nearly thirteen, but he was very friendly. He told me I reminded him of his sister back home, and he cuddled up close to me for comfort last night.

He was cute.

Today, the boys let me get ready first, and, as usual, I only took a few minutes in the washroom. After I dried off, I put on my usual newsie outfit and walked out into the room full of newsboy.

"Lookin' good, Leah," Racetrack winked and smiled at me as I walked past him.

"Already flirting, I see, Race," I rolled my eyes and walked past the line of boys getting ready.

"You know it!" Race called to me as I made my way to the door.

"I'll see you guys downstairs!" I called, opening the door to leave.

"Alright!" Chorused the newsies before I stepped outside.

I hopped down the stairs and made my way outside, pulling a smoke out of my pocket. I lit it up and took a drag as I looked around. I was so happy the boys knew about me now, it was as if a giant weight had been lifted off my shoulders. They all accepted me, and it was now easier to be around them, somehow.

"Good morning, Leah!" I heard a child's voice call; I whipped my head around to the side and smiled when I saw Les and apparently one of his friends.

"Morning, Les. How are you this morning?" I asked, smiling and taking another drag of my cigarette.

"I'm great!" He beamed, bouncing on the balls of his feet before slinging his arm around his friends shoulder, "Leah, this is Robbie. He's my new friend."

"Oh, well very nice to meet you Robbie," I smiled, holding out my hand to his smaller one.

He smiled a dimpled smile and shook it clumsily, "Nice to meet you, too!"

He was very adorable. He had shaggy brown hair and eyes to match. He was shorter than Les, and obviously younger. He wore a blue button up shirt and brown colored pants, his shoes were worn and dirty.

"So Robbie, what is it you're doing here?" I asked, smiling at the smaller boy, my cigarette in between my fingers.

"I'm gonna sell newspapers! Like Les!" He beamed a toothy grin, hopping once.

I smiled and threw my cigarette down, stomping it out, "Well, I guess you're gonna need a selling partner."

"You?" He asked sweetly, his face showing adoration.

"Yeah, if ye' want," I smiled, ruffling the kids shaggy mop top.

"Yeah! That'd be great!" He cried, jumping up and down like any kid his age would.

"Alright then, come on. Let's go get some papers," I smiled, motioning my hand for them to follow me.

We started our short trek to the distribution center, and on the way, I found out Robbie was eight years old, had a brother and a sister, both older, and his parents both worked. He said they weren't pulling in real good money, so he decided he wanted to help.

As we walked up the ramp of The World, we were the only ones there, I met eyes with Oscar, who was manning the front desk today.

"Hey Oscar… Where's the old guy?" I questioned, looking around for the grey haired gentleman.

"He called in sick," Oscar shrugged, crossing his arms over his chest, "How many will it be?"

Jeez, cuts right to the point, doesn't he?

"Same 'ol, same 'ol," I said, slamming down forty cents.

"Forty papes fo' Jittas!" Oscar called to the back, where Morris was working.

"You can call me, Leah, you know, Oscar," I winked at him with a charming, sarcastic smile.

"So ye' told 'em?" Oscar smiled his usual devious, mean looking snarl of a smile.

"Yep. They took it pretty well, overall," I shrugged leaning against the desk as Morris came over.

"Here ye' go, rat. Forty papes. Next!" Morris spat impatiently, looking at Les standing next to me.

"Thanks Morris," I muttered sarcastically as I took my papes and jumped down the steps.

"Twenty papes, please," Les said in his usual sweet, innocent sounding tone of voice.

"Twenty papes fo' da little one!" Oscar called before looking down at the newest newsie, "What's ye' name, kid?"

"Robbie… I'm new," He smiled, looking at Oscar with the most adorable brown eyes.

"That you are, kid," Oscar said smugly, "How many papes ye' want?"

"Just a few, please," Robbie said, pursing his lips.

"I get a few kid, but exactly how many do ye' want?" Oscar snapped crudely.

"Um…"

"Give him ten, Delancey," I snapped, placing a dime on the desk in front of Oscar.

"Ten papes for da newbie!" Oscar called before looking at me, "So, Leah…" He looked me up and down as he leaned against the desk, "Ye' got anyone special since ye' told everyone ye' secret?"

"Shut your trap, Oscar, or I'll shut it for ye'," I threatened, reading over my newspaper.

"Ooh, feisty! I like that in a woman," Oscar cracked sarcastically as Morris came up behind him with ten papes.

"Here ye' go kid, ten papes," Morris said grumpily before wiping his nose with his sleeve and turning to go back to work.

"Thank you, mister!" Robbie called after him, but Morris only rolled his eyes and swatted his hand in irritation.

"So… You doin' anytin' tanight?" Oscar smirked deviously, wiggling his dark eyebrows at me.

"Nope, and I won't be filling my free time with you," I said deadpan.

All the sudden, Robbie fell back into my arms and started convulsing violently, he was making muffled whimpering, screaming noises.

"Robbie? A-are you alright?" I said, worried. I'd never seen anything like this before.

"What's wrong wit 'im?!" Oscar cried, standing up straighter now.

"He's fine. He just has these fits sometimes," Les said, "Just hold him like that, he'll be better in a few seconds."

I nodded and looked down at the convulsing boy and felt tears prick the corners of my eyes. Poor baby. In just a second, he halted the violent movements and let out a relieved breath before falling limp in my arms.

I looked up and noticed Oscar had disappeared before I looked over at Les, "What was that?"

"They call it a seizure," Les started, "He has 'em probably two to three times a day."

"Poor kid," I whimpered, casting my glance back downwards at the boy who was groggily leaning against me.

"He'll be fine in a few minutes, he's just got to get his strength back," Les said, as if he had seen this a million times before.

"Here," I suddenly heard a voice. I looked up and saw Oscar, his eyes looking worried as he held a glass of water and a handkerchief out to me.

"Thanks," I smiled warmly before taking the handkerchief and water. I dabbed the boys mouth, trying to dry up any excess saliva he spit up while having this seizure before handing him the glass of water, "Here Robbie, drink this."

He shakily took the water from me and took slow, small sips of the water as he slowly got his strength back.

"Are ye' a'right, kid?" Oscar asked after a moment of the small boy drinking water.

Robbie nodded and licked his lips sleepily, "Yeah, just tired."

"Do you want me to take you home?" I asked worriedly, rubbing his shoulder soothingly.

He shook his head, his shaggy brown hair falling into his big brown eyes, "No, I'm okay. I want to sell papers with you and Les."

"Well…" I looked up at Oscar, who just shrugged and turned back to organizing stacks of papers. I looked back down at Robbie and smiled sadly, "Alright. Just be careful, alright?"

"Okay," Robbie nodded as he shimmied out of my grip. He picked up his papers and had Les help him down the steps; they started conversing as I looked over at Oscar.

"Here," I said, handing him the half full glass of water.

Oscar took the glass from me and set it down on the desk next to him before turning back to me, "So… How did da newsies take it, exactly?"

"Well…" I scratched the back of my head nervously and looked around for a second, "They all took it fairly well… Except Skittery. But he's alright with it now."

"Good," Oscar smiled as he stood straight, "Dey betta' look afta' ye', 'cause if dey don't, I'm gonna haf ta kick some newsie asses."

"Is that as close to sentimental Oscar I'm gonna get?" I asked, smiling sweetly, yet tiredly.

"Yep," Oscar smiled smugly, "Now get ye' ass ta' work. Dem papa's don't sell demselves."

"Alright, alright, I'm going," I smiled, grabbing my papers, "See ye' later, Oscar."

"See ye'," He smiled sweetly before I started towards the gate with the kids.

I looked back at Oscar and noticed he was still looking at me, but he quickly turned away when I looked back at him. I smiled and chuckled under my breath, shaking my head in disbelief. There was a good guy in him somewhere, you just had to dig deep enough to find it.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N - I hate this chapter and it's really short. Sorry, but I hope you enjoy it anyway. :)**

 **Disclaimer - Anything that looks familiar belongs to Disney.**

It had been a month since I came out as a girl, and life was good. The boys still had me sleeping in the bunk room, and I still shared a bed with Blanket. But all was good. I wore dresses now, I bought some about a week ago, my hair was also growing out pretty quickly, too. It was almost to my shoulders.

Racetrack kept flirting with me, but it's just friendly. We were too close of friends to be together like that.

It was weird, because it seems like we've gotten closer since this whole 'I'm actually a girl' thing started.

Skittery was same 'ol Skittery. Itey was shyer now. Bumlets was the same. And the little newsies looked up to me like a big sister.

Right now, it was around eight 'o clock and we were at Medda's. She was doing her big number and we were all sitting around, joking, drinking and smoking. Bumlets was tapping his feet and smiling as Medda sang, he was holding a glass of beer in one hand.

I smiled and looked at Les, who was just watching Medda, trying to get a drink of beer off of one of the other newsies.

I then looked at Angelo, who had just stood up and walked over to me.

He cleared his throat, held one arm behind his back and offered his other hand to me, "Would ye' like ta' dance, my fair lady?"

I smiled and rolled my eyes before acting posh and taking his hand, "Why yes, my good sir, I'd be honored."

He smiled and pulled me to my feet and pulled me to the middle of the room; he put one hand on my waist and the other in my free hand before he started swaying us around the room. I giggled and enjoyed myself.

A few minutes into the dance, I looked over and saw Racetrack walk over to Blink and offer his hand.

"Would ye' like ta' dance, sweetheart?" Race said in an upper class voice.

Blink choked back a laugh before clearing his throat and saying, "It'd be my pleasa'."

I held back a chuckle as Blink was pulled to his feet by Race. They made their way to the center of the room, not far from me and Angelo. They took the same position as us and started dancing. I threw my head back and laughed as they started dancing, big smiles on both their faces.

As the song came to a close, Angelo took me back to our table and winked at me as I sat down before he went back to his seat and took a sip of beer.

"Quite the danca' you are," Snipeshooter said from the seat next to me.

I smiled at him sweetly, "Thank you."

As the next song began, he held out his hand, "Wanna dance?"

"Sure," I smiled, taking his hand and standing back up.

As I did with Angelo, I made my way to the center of the floor with Snipeshooter. We danced for a few seconds silently before Snipeshooter whispered, "A few somebody's have gots their eyes on ye'."

I looked in the direction Snipeshooter was glancing and saw Bumlets, Itey and Davie all looking at me. I smiled and turned my face back to Snipeshooter's and shook my head in disbelief, "They're just not used to seein' me all dolled up."

"Probly right," Snipeshooter nodded as he continued to sway us back and forth.

After a few more minutes, the song ended and Medda spoke, "We're going to take a quick intermission. I'll be back to preform one last number in about thirty minutes."

She then disappeared to the back. I smiled and kissed Snipeshooter on the cheek, making him blush as I grabbed his hand and dragged him back to the table. After we sat down, all the boys at this table looked at us and smiled.

"Quite da danca' youse are, Leah," Itey smiled, both his hands wrapped around his glass of whiskey.

"Thanks," I smiled, looking around the table at all the boys.

"I've got an idea!" Jack suddenly cried, raising his glass. He was drunk, "Let's all play twenty questions!"

I giggled, "Alright, you go first."

"A'right…" He slurred, his eyes falling heavy, "If youse could go any place in da world, where would ye' go?"

I thought for a moment, looking up at the ceiling in contemplation before responding with, "Paris."

"Paris?" He said in a French accent as he swished his drink around the glass with his hand.

"Yes, Paris," I said, mocking the way he said Paris with a French accent, "And I already know your answer."

"What? How do youse know what my answer's gonna be?" Jack burst, seemingly offended in some way.

"Oh, Santa Fe, my love! If only we could be together!" I dramatized, putting the back of my hand to my forehead.

"Hardy har, very funny," Jack rolled his eyes, "Youse ask da next question."

"Alright, how about… Skittery. Ever been kissed?" I asked, resting my chin in my hands and smiling smugly.

He smiled and leaned back in his chair, slinging one of his arms over the back of it, "Yeah. I was… Fourteen. Her name was Taylor Barnett. She was beautiful."

"Awe… How sweet," I gushed like a girl, making Skittery roll his eyes.

"Yeah, well what about youse? You eva' been kissed?" He asked.

"Well… No… No I have not…" I said, not counting the time I was assaulted by Patrick.

"What? You've neva' been kissed? But… You-You're beautiful!" Itey cried, his brown eyes wide.

I blushed, and Itey, realizing what he said, blushed as well and dipped his head down to avoid eye contact with everyone.

"Nope, I've never been kissed," I said, my face bright red.

"Alright, let's not play this game anymo', it's borin'!" Jack cried, swatting his hands around drunkenly.

"Good idea," I said before grabbing my drink and taking a large swig.


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I don't own Newsies or any of it's characters.**

"Leah. Leah, wake up," I heard a familiar voice say as the person shook my shoulder.

I groaned and rolled onto my side, swatting my hand and grumbling nonsense under my breath.

"Leah, c'mon, get up," The voice said again, "Da suns up. Let's go."

"Ugh… Go away, I'm not in the mood," I groaned, shoving my face into my pillow that was suddenly pulled out from under me, making my face collide with the firm mattress.

"Leah, get out a bed, let's go," The voice said grumpily.

I rolled onto my back and cracked my bleary eyes open to glare up at the newsie trying to drag me out of bed.

"Good mornin', sunshine," Itey smiled smugly.

I rolled my tired eyes and groaned, "Good morning, Itey."

I let out a tired yawn and stretched my arms above my head, stretching my whole body as well before looking around the room. After not seeing anybody else in the room besides me and Itey, I furrowed my eyebrows and looked up at him.

"Where is everyone?" I asked, looking into his sweet brown eyes.

"Dey all left a'ready," Itey said, "I'm takin' da day off, and youse got pretty drunk last night, so I figa'd ye' just wanted ta' sleep in."

"Well, I could've—" I cut off my sentence when I sat up too quickly, a quick, sharp pain went through my skull. I held my hand to my head and groaned, "Yeah, thanks."

"No problem," Itey smiled, sitting back on the bed next to mine, "I'm gonna go ta' da docks this afternoon wit Race and Blink, but fo' da time bein', I'm goin' ta' Tibby's fo' lunch and I'm gonna break tings wit dis here slingshot."

Itey showed me his new weapon and messed with the rubber band on it with a smile of his face. I rolled my eyes and giggled a little before looking at him, "Well, you have fun with that. I'm going to the post office today. Even though I don't want to get out of bed, I've decided I need to send my mother a letter, telling her I'm alright."

"Youse not goin' ta' tell 'er where youse are 'dough, right?" Itey asked, suddenly worried.

"No, of course not. I don't want to chance Patrick coming after me," I said, laughing a little nervously.

"Well," Itey started, standing up, "Be careful. Don't get yo'self inta no trouble, ye' hear?"

"I won't. Promise," I smiled.

"A'right. Well, I'll be seein' ye," Itey smiled.

"Alright, bye Itey. Have a good day," I said, waving to the boy as he left the room.

"I will. And youse too," Itey said before he exited the room.

I sighed and looked down at my feet hanging over the edge of my bed, "Well, I guess I should get ready."

And with that, I stood and headed for the bathroom, my head pounding the whole way there.

 _"_ _Dear mother,_

 _I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to write to you, and I'm sorry if you've been worried, I didn't mean_

 _to put all that stress on you. I'm doing well where I am, and even though I can't tell you where I am,_

 _just know I'm safe and with people who care a lot about me, and they'd never do anything to hurt me._

 _I'm sure Patrick is going to find this letter, so to Patrick: Don't take any of this out on my mother, she_

 _has no idea where I am, and I'm not going to tell anybody. Mother, I love you with everything inside of_

 _me, and Billy, thanks for sticking up for me, I'm forever in your debt._

 _Love, Leah_

I smiled at my letter and silently prayed this would make it home. I folded it inside the envelope, folded it and kissed it before slipping it into the small opening in the mailbox. I smiled and nodded my head before turning on my heel to start back down the road.

Hopefully my mother understood why I ran away. I'm sure Billy's told her what happened by now.

"Hey, girly!" I heard a familiar, rude New York accent call.

I closed my eyes and released a frustrated breath before spinning around on my heel and coming face to face with Morris and Oscar Delancey. Morris had a dumb smile on his face as he cracked his knuckles, and Oscar just stood next to him, a grumpy look on his face, as usual.

"What do you two bozos want?" I snapped in an irritable, sarcastic tone as I crossed my arms over my chest.

"We was just walkin' through da neighbahood an' saw youse wanderin' 'round, just thought we should come ova' an' say hi," Morris spat, his devious smile still plastered across his face.

"Yeah, what do you REALLY want?" I questioned, knitting my thick eyebrows together in annoyance.

"Ye' know what we want," Morris chuckled, cracking his knuckles again.

I nodded and stood there silently for a moment before I quickly turned away and booked it down the alley.

"Get 'er!" Morris cried, I then heard both of their heavy footsteps running after me.

I tried running as fast as I could, but my smaller self couldn't outrun the bigger boys, even though they weren't very big themselves. I felt Morris's arms wrap around my waist and he tackled me to the ground, I fell onto my side and scraped my arm and face up before Morris rolled me onto my back and smiled down at me.

"Youse gonna enjoy dis," Morris laughed, pulling at my clothes; I smacked him in the face. Hard. Morris just laughed again, "Or maybe ye' won't."

I tried calling out for help as I felt hot tears start rolling down my cheeks, but Morris covered my mouth with his disgusting, dirty hand. I squirmed underneath him, trying to push myself out from underneath him, but he was much too strong for me.

As he worked on my blouse, Oscar suddenly called, "Wait!"

Morris halted his movements and looked up at his younger brother, who still held a disgruntled look on his face.

"Yeah Osca'?" Morris said smugly, still pinning my wrists onto the hard concrete beneath me, scraping them up.

"I can handle her, why don't you go screw wit ye' girlfriend, huh?" Oscar snapped, crossing his arms awkwardly.

"What? Ye' finally got da courage ta' do somedin' like dis?" Morris smiled, looking up at his brother, "Why you little nasty bastard. I knew ye' had it in ye'," Morris crawled off of me and pulled me up with him, gripping my arm tightly; that'll bruise later, "Here ye' go little brother, make it last. I'm gonna go find me a newsie ta' soak."

He pushed me into Oscar's arms and then took off out of the alley. Oscar pushed me against the wall harshly and covered my mouth with his hand as he looked down the street for his brother.

"Oscar… Please don't hurt me," I whimpered as he removed his hand.

"Shh!" He hushed harshly, looking around for his brother.

"Oscar, please, you would—"

He then turned back to me and pressed his lips to mine, but it wasn't rough or forced, it was surprisingly sweet and soft. I didn't know how to react, I just stood there, shocked. I then mustered up the strength to push my hands to his chest and push him off of me. He stumbled back and avoided eye contact with me, and I just stood there, wiping my mouth.

Oscar looked up at me with nervous looking eyes, "I'm sorry."

I just looked at him as he turned away and walked down and towards the street before he turned around again and looked at me nervously; he was clenching and unclenching his fists.

"I'm sorry," And with that, he turned on his heel and walked back down the street from where he came, leaving me, standing there, confused.


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I don't own Newsies or any of it's characters.**

I got back to the lodging house right at sunset that afternoon, still in shock from what happened earlier today. Both with Morris and Oscar. I can't believe Morris tried to do that, and Oscar kissed me? Technically though, Oscar did save me from Morris. I would have to thank him later when I got over what happened. I don't think I could even look at him right now, especially if he's with Morris.

I shuddered at the thought as I went up the stairs to the bunk room. As I closed the door behind me, I pressed my back to it and closed my eyes in relief. I thought I'd never get back here, it seemed like a never ending journey.

"Long day?" I heard the voice of Jack Kelly.

I snapped open my eyes and looked up at Jack, then smiled sheepishly, "Oh, hey Jack. Yeah, had a rough day."

"Wud happened?" Jack asked, reading over a spare newspaper as he leaned against one of the bunk beds.

"Um…" I debated whether I should tell him or not. I know he hated the Delancey's, but I didn't want him to hurt them. I didn't like to resolve things with violence.

"Does it have anythin' ta' do wit da Delancey brudda's?" Jack asked.

"How'd you know?" I questioned.

"It's always da Delancey brudda's," Jack said, putting his paper down and standing, walking over to me, "So, wud dey do dis time? Push ye' 'round? Pull ye' hair? Mess with ye' dress?"

"Morris tried to rape me," I said suddenly, not exactly knowing where it came from.

Jack's eyes went wide and he took a step back, stumbling a little, "W-what? He tried ta'—Oh my God, Leah! Ah ye' a'right? He didn't hurt ye' did 'e?"

"No-no, I'm fine," I said, avoiding eye contact with Jack, slightly embarrassed about it, "Oscar got him to go away."

"Osca'? He made Morris back off?" Jack questioned, seemingly not believing it completely.

"Well… He tricked him into leaving, more like it," I admitted.

"But 'e still made 'im leave?" Jack questioned.

"Yeah," I nodded.

"Well… He didn't do nothin' did 'e?" Jack kept on with the questions; I stayed silent at this, "He did, didn't 'e? What'd 'e do?"

"He uh… He might of… He might of kissed me," I said the last part in a whisper-whimper and closed my eyes nervously, tilting my head down and clenching my fists.

"He what?" Jack suddenly snapped, seemingly angry about this; I wasn't surprised.

"He kissed me, alright! I don't know what to do about it! I'm freaking out and so confused!" I cried, gripping my hair as tears pricked the corners of my eyes.

"I'll tell ye' wud I'm gonna do 'bout it. I'm gonna go kick some Delancey ass!" Jack snapped, pushing past me and going out the door and heading downstairs; I ran after him down the stairs.

"No, Jack! Wait!" I caught up to him at the bottom of the steps; I pushed myself in front of him and pushed on his chest a little, trying to stop him from going to soak the Delancey's, "He apologized! He didn't mean it!"

"Didn't mean it?! Wud da hell are ye' talkin' 'bout, Leah?! He kissed ye'! He did mean it!" Jack yelled, flapping his hands around in frustration and anger.

"Alright, so maybe he did mean it, but what if… Maybe… I wasn't that angry at him for it?" I suggested innocently, shrugging my shoulders nervously and clasping my hands at my waist.

"Wait… Do you… Do you actually… Like Osca'?" Jack questioned incredulously, giving me a sort of angry, unbelieving glare, "Are ye' nuts?!"

"No, I'm not! Have you ever really stopped to actually try and get to know him instead beating him up all the time?" I asked, suddenly angry myself. I glared up at the tall boy, my hands on my hips, "He's actually kind of sweet, and… Dare I say, nice… In his own way."

"Osca'? Osca' Delancey? Nice? Ha!" Jack laughed sarcastically before giving me a look of disbelief, "You're kiddin' me right, Leah? You've gotta be jokin' wit me!"

"No Jack, I am not 'jokin'' with ye'," I said irritably.

"Well… I don't care! I'm still goin' ta' kick dere asses!" Jack snapped, storming past me once more.

I chased after him once again, calling after him and begging him not to hurt the boys, "Jack please! Wait up! Don't hurt them, please!"

It did me no good though, Jack ignored me the whole way to the gate.

As he stormed into The World, an angry glare on his face and his fists clenched, he spotted the brothers and called out to them, "Hey, Delancey's!"

They both looked over at Jack, and smirked deviously.

"Hey, wud's up, Cowboy?" Oscar smiled, throwing his hands in the air and waltzing over to Jack, his older brother right behind him with the same evil snarl on his face.

"I can't believe wud you two did ta' sweet little Leah!" Jack snapped, grabbing a fistful of Oscar's shirt and pulling him off his feet a little.

"Whoa Cowboy, whatcha talkin' 'bout?" Oscar snapped, holding his hands up in mock defense.

"Youse know exactly what I'm talkin' 'bout," Jack spat between his teeth.

Oscar then frowned and his face paled dramatically before Jack suddenly smacked his forehead into Oscar's nose. Oscar cried out and fell back out of Jack's hands and landed on the ground with a loud thud.

Morris's face went from smug to angry in a split second as he launched his fist into Jack's face. Jack only stumbled a little, and was soon throwing punches right back at Morris. He got Morris on the ground and sat on top of him before he started repetitively throwing his fists into Morris's face. It only took a minute to make Morris too groggy and beaten to stand, so Jack crawled off of him before going over to a staggering, swaying Oscar, who was holding his bloodied nose.

He grabbed the smaller boy by the shirt and glared into his dark eyes with his own before gritting out, "Stay away from Leah, stay away from all of us. If I eva' see ye' wit 'er again, I'll kill ye'. And dat's a promise."

He then threw Oscar back onto the ground before snatching my wrist and attempting to drag me back to the lodging house, but I protested and pulled my wrist out of his vice like grip, "No Jack!"

He turned around to me and gave me a look of confusion and annoyance, "What?"

"I said no," Crossing my arms, I stood there courageously, "You're not the boss of me. I can do what I want and talk to who I please."

"But… Da Delancey bruddas? Dere assholes," Jack snapped, motioning to the two groggy boys behind me.

"Who are you to judge? Because all you've ever been is assholes to them," I said, shifting all my weight onto my other foot.

"Dey spell trouble, Leah," Jack snapped.

"I don't care, Jack," I snapped back.

"Fine. If dis is whatcha want, den fine! Go 'head!" Jack bellowed as he turned on his heel and headed towards the gate; he turned back to me when he reached it, "But when dey hurt ye', don't come cryin' ta' me! 'Cause I won't be dere!"

And with that, he turned on his heel, and left me and the two brothers alone. I released a heavy sigh and turned around to the boys, seeing Morris lying on his back unconscious, and Oscar, sitting on the ground, holding his nose. I sighed once more before going over to Oscar and squatting down next to him.

"Oscar… Are you alright?" I asked sympathetically.

"Do I look a'right ta' you?" He snapped, but when he saw my hurt expression, he quickly apologized, "Sorry. Didn't mean ta' snap atcha like dat."

"It's alright," I smiled sadly, putting a hand on his shoulder, "Here. Let me help you with this whole… Situation."

He nodded and I helped him stand, but before we started to walk into the distribution center housing, I looked back at Morris.

"What about him?" I questioned, not totally trusting the older brother.

"He'll piece togetha' wud happened ta' 'im when 'e wakes up. He does every time," Oscar said, making me giggle a little bit.

I then helped Oscar inside so that I could help him clean up.


	11. Chapter 11

**Thanks Grace, for my first review. :) I was starting to wonder if anyone liked it. ;)**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Newsies or any of it's characters.**

 _"_ _Thanks, fo' helpin' me out back dere… I guess…" Oscar tried, apparently he wasn't used to this whole… Showing emotions… Thing._

 _I smiled as I finished wiping the rest of the blood of his chin, "No problem. You didn't deserve that."_

 _"_ _Morris on da udda hand," Oscar chuckled, then winced when he hurt his nose._

 _I giggled and threw the blood stained towel to the side, prodding at his nose to make sure it wasn't broken or anything, "Well… I think it's just a little bruised. I think you'll be alright in a few days."_

 _"_ _Good. I'se need ta get Kelly back fo' what 'e did!" Oscar said irritably._

 _"_ _No, don't fight. Just let it be," I said, "Besides, it'll probably make him go mad not knowing whether or not you're comin' after him or not."_

 _Oscar chuckled softer this time and nodded, "Yeah, maybe."_

 _It was quiet for a few moments between us. Oscar looked down at his hands, nervously twiddling his thumbs as I just examined him. He looked so vulnerable right now, it was kind of weird. He had his hat off and thrown over to the side, his growing dark hair now hung in his nervous brown eyes. I smiled as I looked at him. Maybe he wasn't so bad. I wasn't afraid to admit to myself that I might have a little bit of a thing for him._

 _"_ _Listen, Leah… I'm really sorry fo' what I did earlier," Oscar said, looking up at me. But before he could continue, I silenced him with a soft kiss on the lips._

 _He stiffened up at this and his eyes went wide in surprise. He stayed this way for a moment before he relaxed his body and leaned into the kiss, putting a hand on my cheek to pull me in closer. Our lips moved together in perfect harmony, and I never wanted it to end. I pushed my fingers into his hair and pulled him in closer, making the kiss deeper. Our kiss went on for a few moments until we were at a loss of breath and had to pull away._

 _We just stared at each other after that, panting and trying to catch our breath. I then chuckled and breathed, "Wow…"_

 _Oscar smirked a little awkwardly and nodded in agreement, "Yeah…"_

 _I bit my bottom lip in embarrassment, but still held a smile before I cleared my throat, "Well, uh… I'm gonna have to be headin' back. Don't wanna make the boys worried."_

 _"_ _Yeah, a'right," Oscar frowned, looking down._

 _He stood up with me and I smoothed out the skirt of my dress and smiled, "Oscar?"_

 _"_ _Yeah?" He looked into my eyes nervously, biting his bottom lip anxiously._

 _I smiled, "I like you, ye' know?"_

 _He beamed a wide, happy smile back, "I like youse, too. A lot."_

 _"_ _Same," I blushed a bright crimson and grabbed his hand awkwardly as I stepped in closer to him, "See ye' tomorrow?"_

 _Oscar smiled and nodded, "Yeah… Def'nitely."_

 _"_ _Alright…" I then stood on the tips of my toes and kissed him briefly, "Till tomorrow."_

 _"_ _Goodnight, Leah," Oscar called to me as I stepped away._

 _"_ _Goodnight Oscar," I smiled before walking out the door._

I smiled as I relived the memory of the previous hour. I laid here, on my bed, arms behind my head, in my newsie clothes. That kiss with Oscar, I'm counting that as my first kiss. Not the one in the alley, because I wasn't cooperating there, but the one in his room. Now that's what I call a first kiss.

I smiled to myself as I thought of him, butterflies in my stomach. This was a completely new feeling, and I think I know what it is. Love. But I can't quite call it that yet, let's just where this goes.

"Leah! Leah! You've gotta hide! Quick!" I heard the frantic voice of Itey cry as him, Crutchie, and Kid Blink ran into the room.

I sat up in bed quickly and gave them all a look, "What? What's goin' on?"

"T-there's a guy here… He's… He's lookin' for ye'!" Itey cried urgently, "Ye' gotta hide!"

"Wait, wait, wait!" I stood, holding my hands up in the air with a cigarette between my teeth, "Did he tell you his name?"

"Uh… Yeah. He said it was…" Itey snapped his fingers, trying to remember, "Billy! That's it! Billy!"

"Billy?" I repeated, looking down at the floor as I took the cigarette from between my teeth.

"Yeah! Is he… Is 'e da guy lookin' for ye'? Da one dat tried ta'—Well, ye' know?!" Itey cried.

I shook my head slowly and let a smile slowly make it's way across my features, "No, no that's my step-brother. I knew he'd come lookin' for me."

I looked up at the boys and laughed excitedly, running past them and patting them all on the arms as I passed as a thank you for letting me know.

I ran downstairs, having dropped my unlit cigarette somewhere along the way. As I entered the main area, I saw the usual crowd of news boys all sitting around, drinking and having a good time, but I also saw a few crowded around in a small circle over near the door. I smiled and ran over to them, hoping it was really true.

I pushed my way through the boys, trying to reach the middle of the small circle. When I finally made it through, I saw two boys, one being Billy and the other unknown to me. I didn't care who he was right now, all I cared about was that Billy was here and safe.

I smiled and leaped into his arms, "Billy! You're okay!"

He pulled away from me immediately, so that he could look down at me. He looked me up and down, shocked at my appearance, "Leah! You look like a boy!"

I giggled and gripped his arms lovingly, "It was my disguise. You look good. No cuts or bruises."

"No, no. I ran away two weeks ago," Billy told me, tightening his grip on my arms, "I've been lookin' everywhere for you."

"I've been here the entire time," I smiled, "How'd you find me here, though?"

"This bloody guy from across the way there told me you were here," Billy said.

"That's probably Morris," I said, furrowing my eyebrows irritably, "I'll have ta' straighten him out later."

"Jeez! What's gotten into you?" Billy laughed.

"The city's worn off on me," I shrugged, "C'mon, I've got ta' introduce you to my friends."

"Okay, but first," Billy said, releasing me, "I'd like you to meet Bobby."

I turned back towards my step-brother and looked over at his friend. He was around Billy's height, maybe an inch shorter. He had curly brown hair and bright blue eyes. He looked very… Clean.

I smiled and held out my hand, spitting into it first, testing to see if he was city material, "Nice ta' meet ye', chief."

He smiled and spit in his hand as well, shaking mine, "You too."

I smiled and nodded. I liked him.

"Well… C'mon, you two! We've got people to meet and placed ta' be!"

Billy and me sat by ourselves upstairs in the bunkroom about an hour later. I had introduced him to everybody. He said he liked how weary of him they all were, he said it made him know they protected me.

"So… What's with you and the leader guy?" Billy asked.

"Who? Jack?" I swatted my hand, sitting cross-legged, "He's all pissed off because I made nice with one of his enemies."

"Whoa, language there, Betty Lou," Billy chuckled, holding his hands up.

I smacked him on the arm, "Shut up, Bill!"

He chuckled for a moment more before saying, "You seem like pretty close friends with all these guys."

"We're kind of like siblings, now," I admitted, "Itey's my best friend. We used to share a bunk, till they all found out I was a girl, then he moved me to bunk with one of the younger newsies."

"So, do you sell papers now, or what?" Billy kept asking question after question.

"I used to," I said, "The boys are scared for me now, so they tell me to stay here. I don't mind it really. Kloppman lets me stay here as long as I help him with the cleaning, cooking, and all that kind of stuff."

Billy nodded, "That's… Great. But… We need to get out of here, before my Dad finds us. So I was thinking—"

"Wait, wait, wait," I stopped him from going on into his plan, "We can't just pack up and leave. I live here now, this is my life."

"Life? Leah, you live in a bunk house with a bunch of sweaty, teenage boys. Don't you see what's wrong with that?" Billy snapped in an annoyed tone.

"Nothing's wrong with that! I've lived with teenage boys all my life, and you're one of 'em!" I spat, "I can't leave them. I love them, and they love me. We're family."

"Family? You've know them, for what? A month?" Billy cried incredulously.

"Two months!" I corrected irritably, "I can't leave!"

"Why not?" Billy asked.

"Because, they're my family. I've already told you," I said, before adding, "That, and I've got somebody special."

"What? What was that last part?" Billy asked, straining to hear me.

I smirked sarcastically and crossed my arms, glaring up at Billy, "I said, I've got someone special."

"What? You've got a boyfriend?" Billy asked, laughing a little, "Really? Who is it? What's his name?"

"I ain't tellin' you!" I cried, throwing my arms out to my sides.

"And why not?" Billy smiled smugly.

"Because, I don't need you blabbing to everyone here about it," I explained.

"Oh, alright, whatever," Billy swatted his hand at me before crossing his arms, "Well… We'll sleep on this. But we're discussing my plan in the morning."

"Fine. I'll listen to it, but I ain't comin' with ye'," I said, keeping my aggressive pose on the bed.

Billy rolled his eyes, "Alright, whatever, Leah. I'm goin' downstairs to find Bobby. You get yourself some shut eye."

"Alright, sure. Go kiss and make 'out' with your boyfriend," I said, laying back on my bed.

"He ain't my boyfriend," Billy snapped, pointing at me mockingly before leaving the room and going downstairs to join the rest of the boys.

Ugh! What a long night!


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: Anything that looks familiar belongs to Disney.**

I woke up to a loud yelling the next morning. I cracked open a bleary eye and raised an eyebrow before I heard a sarcastic chuckling. I groaned and rubbed my bright, but tired eyes before cracking both of them open and sitting up. I looked across the room, and leaning against the end of Tumblr's bed was Billy, his arms crossed and a crooked smile on his face, a cigarette between his teeth.

"Billy? What are you doing?" I questioned, rubbing my eye and yawning.

"Just screwing around with the cripple," He replied, rubbing his chin and chuckling some more.

I furrowed my eyebrows and looked down at the floor. I saw Crutchie's crutch lying a few feet away from him as he just lay there, trying to push himself up.

"Billy!" I cried, jumping out of bed and going to help Crutchie.

I grabbed him under his arms and helped pull him to his feet before grabbing his crutch off to the side and handing it to him.

He smiled as he got adjusted and looked at me, "Thanks Leah."

"No problem, Crutchie," I then glared at Billy and pushed my hands to my hips, "What the hell is wrong with you, Billy? Do you do this to every newsie here or just the disabled and children?"

"I was messin' with the blind kid earlier," Billy smirked, chewing on his lip.

"You're an ass," I rolled my eyes.

"Oh c'mon, we were just havin' a little fun. Weren't we, gimp leg?" Billy smiled, pulling the cigarette away from his mouth and looking over to Crutchie.

I looked back at my friend who looked between me and Billy wide eyed and then nodded, "Oh yeah, just havin' a little fun. That's all."

I rolled my eyes and shook my head, "Yeah, looks like a lot of damn fun. I'd sure like to play that game."

"Really? Come here, then, we'll play," Billy said.

"Billy, are you drunk?" I asked, hands on my hips once more.

"I've not been up long enough to be drunk," Billy said.

"I don't know. I've seen you slam a few back in just under an hour before," I said, smirking in mild-annoyance.

"I'm a little tipsy," Billy said, "I've only had a few."

"Billy, don't start this," I begged.

"Start what?" He questioned, glaring at me.

"Don't turn into your father," I spat, "You get violent when you drink, and that's how your father gets."

Billy shook his head, but he knew it was true, "Shut up."

I shook my head and put a hand on Crutchie's arm, "C'mon Crutchie, let's go get somethin' to eat."

"So… This is what the boys do all day? Just sell papers?" Billy questioned as the last newsboy left the distribution center.

I nodded and turned to my step-brother, "Yeah. They enjoy it, and they get decent income with it. Don't look down upon them, they're the ones your old man bought the papers from. You know, the papers you read?"

"Yeah, yeah, okay, I got it," Billy rolled his eyes and swatted his hand at me as we started towards the world.

"I want to introduce you to somebody," I said, "And please… Don't tell anybody about this, okay?"

"Alright, I promise," Billy smirked, rolling his eyes.

"I mean it, Billy!" I cried, gripping his arm tightly.

"Alright! I got it!" Billy cried, "Jeez, lighten up!"

I led Billy into the World, praying silently that he didn't tell a single newsie about this, except for maybe Les. Les would never tell anyone about this.

I walked into the distribution center, Billy following closely behind me. I led him to the ramp and we walked up to the front desk where Oscar was working. Morris must of already gone back inside, lazy son of a bitch. He couldn't even help his brother organize the remaining papes.

"Morning Oscar," I smiled, leaning across the desk to look at him.

"Good morning, Leah," Oscar smiled, "How're you?"

"Good," I smiled, "I have to introduce you to somebody," I smiled as Oscar leaned his elbows on the desk and leaned forward a little, looking over Billy with a look of… Disgust?

"Yeah?" He said, not taking his eyes off of Billy.

"Yeah, Billy come here," I said, waving my hand for Billy to step closer, "Oscar this is Billy, my step-brother," I introduced, "Billy, this is Oscar, my… Boyfriend."

Oscar smiled at that and shook Billy's hand, "Nice ta' meet ye'."

"Yeah," Billy nodded, looking disgusted with my choice in men, "This is yer boyfriend? Could of chosen better myself, Leah."

"Shut your trap, Billy, I've seen some of the skanks you've brought home before," I snapped.

"Thanks for comparing me to a skank, Leah, much appreciated," Oscar snapped as he tried to turn away, but I grabbed his hand from between the bars.

"I'm not," I smirked, "You're very nice, as much as you try to deny it. And very handsome."

Oscar smiled, "Why thank you. And you, my lady, are very beautiful."

"Ugh," Billy groaned from next to me, "This is disgusting, I'm out of here."

"Where are you goin'?" I called after Billy as he stepped away.

"To buy a paper," And with that, he left the distribution center.

I returned to the lodging house later that night, before all the newsies returned. I went up to the bunk room, smiling in happiness. I had just spent the whole day with Oscar and had a wonderful time. He was so nice, yet sarcastic at the same time. Like, really sarcastic.

I went over to my bunk and saw down, untying my shoestrings on my boots.

"Hey Leah," I heard a familiar voice.

I looked up and saw Crutchie standing across the room, looking over at me, looking kind of sad. I smiled, "Hey Crutchie. How many papes ye' sell today?"

"Thirty," Crutchie shrugged "Had a bit of an off day."

I nodded, "Happens to the best of us."

Crutchie nodded, "What'd you do taday?"

I shrugged, "Ate lunch with Billy, caught up on a few things we've missed. Y'know…"

"No, I don't know," Crutchie suddenly snapped, causing me to look at him.

"What's the problem, Crutchie?" I asked, worried about him a little. He rarely loses his temper.

"I know you weren't with Billy today," He said.

I sighed, "Did he tell you where I was?"

"No, I saw you," Crutchie said, "With Oscar."

I sighed once more sadly and stood, "Look Crutchie, it's not what you think…"

"Really? Than what is it?" He asked, "You kissed him, Leah."

"Crutchie…"

"Why him? Out of all people! Why him?" He cried, "He really hurt me one time, Leah. Him and Morris, they beat me. I could barely walk."

"He's changed, Crutchie," I said, "He's told me he regrets some of the decisions he's made."

"Really? He's a liar, Leah! A liar and a cheater! He's a scab!" Crutchie cried.

"No he ain't," I snapped, clenching my fists, "He's a really nice guy, ye' just got to get to know him a little better."

"I know him, alright," Crutchie snapped, turning away.

"No, you knew him," I replied, causing Crutchie to stop.

He stood there for a moment before saying, "I won't tell anyone about this, for your sake."

I nodded as he walked off, angry with me.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N - This is the longest chapter in the story so far, I think that deserves some reviews. Right? Please?**

 **Disclaimer - Anything that looks familiar belongs to Disney.**

After arguing with Crutchie, I had to take a walk. I knew he said he wouldn't tell anybody, but just in case his anger got to him and he did, I didn't want to be there for Jack to find out. He'd explode. Almost quite literally.

I walked down Delancey Street, my hands in my pockets.

I had no idea where to go, so I just walked. It wasn't that late, so by the time I got back the newsies should still be hanging out around the bar downstairs, drinking and screwing around.

I whistled while I walked, looking around the street, thinking about better times.

The times I used to have with my brother before Dad died and when he didn't rebel from mother and run away. I wonder where he is nowadays, I wonder if he's even alive.

I continued down the street, looking around and spotting a small diner of sorts on the corner. It was quite empty and the light was still on, so I decided to go get a quick bite to eat.

When I walked in, I saw an elderly couple, a man, and a younger woman all sitting at separate tables. I shrugged and walked to the bar and leaned over it, looking the older man dead in the eye.

"Do ye' have hot dogs here?" I asked.

"Unless you're in da rich part of town, every restaurant has hot dogs, kid," The man said.

I nodded as he turned around to go fix my meal. I stood there, in the same position for a moment, until I felt a gaze on my back. I looked over my shoulder a little and saw the young woman gazing at me, a small smile on her face.

I smirked and nodded my head in acknowledgment before she spoke, "You're a newsie, right?"

I smiled and turned around to look at her, leaning back on my elbows against the counter, "I'm all out of papers, hon."

The blond girl giggled and looked down before shaking her head, "No, I think I've seen you around before."

I nodded, "Really?"

She nodded and kept the smile plastered onto her face, "Yeah, really. You stay at the lodging house in Manhattan, right?"

I smiled and nodded, "Yeah… You know somebody from there or somethin'?"

"Yeah, you know David Jacobs?" She asked.

I nodded, "Oh yeah, and his kid brother Les."

I stepped over to her at the table and looked down at her, my hands in my pockets.

"Yeah, I'm their sister," She replied, still smiling.

"They don't stay there, though," I said, furrowing my eyebrows, "They're just there in the evenin's."

"Yeah, well I'm also Jack Kelly's girlfriend," She smiled.

"Oh!" I clapped my hands once and pointed a firm finger at her, smiling as she looked into my eyes, still beaming, "You're THAT Sarah Jacobs! Jack's always goin' on 'bout you. Says you're the most beautiful woman in all of New York!"

"Just New York?" Sarah teased.

I chuckled, "Well, y'know…"

Sarah giggled, "Here, sit down."

I nodded and looked back at the counter to see the man still wasn't back with my food. I sat down across from the girl and clasped my hands on the table.

Sarah examined me for a minute, "You're kind of little for a newsboy aren't you?"

I smiled and nodded, taking my hat off my head, "I ain't really a newsboy. More of a newsgirl, mind you."

She smirked, "Yeah, I know about you. Jack told me about you."

I frowned, "He didn't tell ye' 'bout, anything real—"

"Yeah, he told me your step-dad was after you," Sarah said, "But don't worry, you can trust me. I won't tell anybody. I don't have anybody to tell that doesn't already know, anyway."

I nodded and let out a relieved breath, "Alright, if Jack trusts you, then I trust you."

She nodded and smiled knowingly. I looked away in an uncomfortable way, before looking back at her and smiling awkwardly, "What? What's the matter with ye'?"

"Since you're the only girl newsie… Are you… Y'know?" She smiled in a girly manner.

I blushed and smiled and she giggled and pointed a finger at me accusingly, "You are!"

I shook my head, "I'm seein' somebody, but he ain't a newsie."

"Well, who is he?" Sarah asked.

I looked away and frowned, "I don't think I should tell ye'."

"What? Why not? He can't be that bad, can he?" She smiled and rested her chin in the palm of her hand.

I shook my head and looked up at her again, "No, not ta me anyway. Ta' you… Maybe."

"What does that mean?" She frowned, sitting up straighter.

"I heard somethin' 'bout him… He told me he did somethin' ta ye'," I said nervously, fiddling with my fingernails, "Somethin' he regrets doin'."

"Who is it?" Sarah asked, very curious and slightly worried.

I sighed and shook my head, "Oscar Delancey."

Sarah jerked back a little, but soon recovered before staring at me wide-eyed, "That jerk? He hurt Les… And David. Not to mention what his brother and him tried to do to me. What are you thinking? You need to get out of there before the same thing happens to you!"

I glared at her, I was so tired people telling me what kind of person Oscar was, "It's been a year since any of that happened. He's changed. He's always nice ta' me, and he saved me the otha' day, for your information!"

"From what?" Sarah snapped.

"His brother, who tried to rape me," I snapped back, crossing my arms.

Sarah just sat there, her face still holding a disgruntled expression, but she stayed silent.

I nodded and glared at her, "Yeah, ye' ain't got nothin' ta' add now, do ye' princess?"

She glared at me and crossed her arms as well as I stood and walked over the bar as the older man came back with my hotdog. I dug into my pocket and pulled out two cents and tossed it to the man as I snatched my food out of his hand.

"Hotdogs are only a cent, kid," The man said.

I started towards the door, my glare still on Sarah, "Keep the change, I'm feelin' generous."

With that, I walked out of the diner and ate my dinner.

It was nine that night when I came near the lodging house. I was in a bad mood now, since everyone was judging me because of Oscar. First Crutchie then Davie's sister, this night just got better and better. I was hoping Crutchie hadn't told anybody, because then this night would be crowned the worst night of my life.

I walked down the street, seeing the lodging house up on the corner. It had been a long night, I just wanted to go upstairs and get some sleep. But couldn't be that easy, could it?

I was suddenly grabbed from the alley and pulled in, being thrown up against the wall, hoisted up a little so my feet couldn't touch the ground.

I just dangled there, my mouth covered by a dirty, sweaty hand. I was yelling muffled cries under his hand, but they all fell on deaf ears. I looked up a little at the man and saw the familiar evil green eyes of Morris Delancey.

I kicked my feet, trying to land a swift blow to the chin or maybe the groin, but none of them reached their destination.

"Stop fightin', you'll tire yourself out, dollface," Morris spat with a chuckle.

This remark made me fight harder. I kicked and punched, but I couldn't get a good swipe in. I glared at Morris as he struggled slightly to keep me still.

"C'mon, princess, haven't ye' ever done this befo'?" Morris chuckled, and when he saw my angry glare, he tilted his head and gave me a fake sad expression, "Aw… Ye' haven't, have ye'? Well, we're 'bout ta' fix dat."

He removed his mouth from my hand and grabbed my face, pulling it towards his, "I know my little brudda Osca' let ye' go da udda day, and I just knew you were really hopin' you'd finally do the magical deed. But my brudda was too much of a wuss ta' do it. Don't worry, sweetheart, I'll fulfil yer dream."

With that, he planted one on me. It was sloppy and disgusting. I groaned in disgust and spat in his mouth, causing him to pull away from me and glare into my bright blue eyes with his own emerald green ones, "You bitch," He then slapped me. Hard.

I felt the tears sting my eyes. I prayed to God someone would see this and help me.

Morris kissed me again and started unbuttoning my shirt with one hand as his other kept me pinned to the brick wall. I let the tears spill from my eyes as he got my shirt off and threw it to the side. I finally got my foot to cooperate and swung it forward, into Morris's groin. He released me and dropped to his knees, holding his private parts and groaning in pain.

I just took off running, covering my chest with my arms.

I had two choices right now. I could either go to the lodging house, or go to Oscar's.

I decided to go find Oscar, because I'd rather not walk in one a room full of newsies topless. And besides, Oscar had a good hiding place where his brother never went.

I ran as fast as I could to the distribution center. When I realized the gate was locked, I grabbed onto the bars and shook the gate, crying out for help.

"Oscar! Oscar, help me!" I cried, and soon enough I heard a door creak open and slam shut and heavy footsteps running to the gate and skidding to a stop when he saw me.

"Jesus Leah, wha' happened?" Oscar cried as he dug his keys out of his pocket.

He didn't seem to care that I was topless right now, he just seemed worried about me and wondered why I was crying.

He unlocked the gate and let me in before closing it again and locking it back up, buying us some time.

"It's your brotha', he tried ta'… Y'know?" I said, sobbing.

"Again?" He snapped, making me flinch, but I nodded, "C'mon, follow me."

I followed Oscar into the side door that led into the small building where he and Morris lived. He led me to the stairs that led to the roof. When we got to the roof, Oscar closed and locked the door behind him before turning to face me, only to me attacked by a tight hug.

He was taken aback at first, but slowly he put his arms around me and hugged me close to him. He closed his eyes and kissed the side of my head a few times as we just stood there in an embrace. He let me cry for a few minutes before I finally calmed down and pulled away, now feeling slightly embarrassed about me being half naked.

Oscar pulled off his black vest before he started unbuttoning his grey overshirt.

"I'm gonna kick his ass, ye' know?" Oscar snapped, glaring down at the ground angrily, "He's startin' ta' piss me off. Every time there's a new girl hangin' 'round, he decides ta' go and… Well, y'know."

He put his shirt around my shoulders and tugged the collar of it so I stepped closer to him as he buttoned it up. When he finished with that, he fixed the collar and looked down into my eyes as we both stayed silent.

I felt like kissing him, but he soon spoke, "We'll give Morris a few more minutes, then I'll walk ye' back ta' da lodgin' house."

I fluttered my eyes in contemplation before saying, "But… What if… The guys."

"Who cares," Oscar said, hugging me close once more, kissing me on the temple quickly, "They're bound ta' find out some time, right?"

I thought for a moment before nodding and smiling a little, nervously, "Yeah… I guess yer right."

"Are ye' sure this is a good idea?" I asked my boyfriend once again as he walked me across the street, his hand resting gently on my back as he looked down the street to make sure Morris wasn't following us or anything like that.

"Well, it may not be a good idea, but we need ta' tell 'em," Oscar said, "Or it'll just be worse in da future."

I nodded, "Okay..." I sighed as we got to the doors of the lodging house.

"Here goes nothing," I said.

I only heard a few voices inside the doors now, meaning most of the boys had probably gone upstairs for bed. I heaved a nervous sigh before pushing the door open and walking inside. As myself and Oscar walked in, I saw five newsboys sitting around the bar.

Jack, Davie, Les, Racetrack, and Snipeshooter. I looked down at the floor nervously as they all looked towards us, their faces going from happy and laughing to angry and snarling.

"What'd he do ta' ye'?" Jack snapped as he stood with the rest of the boys and marched towards us.

He got all up in Oscar's face and they both exchanged looks of anger.

"He didn't do anything, it was his brother," I said, rolling my eyes and pushing back on Jack's chest.

He adjusted his shoulders and looked down at me, "Then what's he doin' here?"

"I went ta' get him," I said, "After I got away from Morris."

"Why?" Jack spat, crossing his arms.

"Because… I don't know, he was the first person I thought of," I said, becoming upset again, reliving the scene in the alley.

"How come?" Jack asked more and more questions.

"I don't know, Jack! Quit askin' so many questions!" I snapped, making him flinch.

He looked between me and Oscar before Racetrack spoke, "Is there somethin' youse two wanna tell us?"

I sighed and slowly pushed my hand closer to Oscar's, my little finger brushing his. He then interlocked his fingers with mine and squeezed my hand tight, causing all the newsboys to notice and all their faces held the same expression; shock.

"Seriously? You're wit… Osca'?!" Jack exclaimed, taking an involuntary step back.

I shrugged, "Why's it bother ye' so much, Jack? Somethin' YOU wanna tell us?"

Jack glared at me, "Shut up."

"Hey, don't talk ta' her like dat!" Oscar snapped, stepping towards Jack bravely.

Jack smirked and crossed his arms, looking down at Oscar as if the younger boy were no match against him; it was probably true, too. Oscar was considerably smaller than Jack, and I've seen Jack fight before, he was good at it.

"Finally grew a pair, huh Osca'?" Jack smirked, chuckling a little before a pair of small hands pushed the two apart.

"Knock it off, would ye'?!" Les shouted, putting his hands on their stomachs, pushing them apart from one another, "Why do you guys always gotta fight?"

Jack and Oscar both looked down at Les who continued his little rant, "So what, Oscar used to be a scab and beat us up? I haven't seen him do anything like that unless somebody provoked him in over a year! And so what Jack's says stupid things sometimes and it gets to you, Oscar? You have a temper problem and you need ta' learn to control it. You got that?"

Jack and Oscar both looked down at Les before looking back up at each other. Oscar and Jack kept their glares on each other, but they stepped away from one another.

Oscar then turned to me and gazed at me sympathetically, "Youse a'right now?"

I nodded, "Yeah."

"A'right," Oscar smiled, giving me a kiss on the cheek before turning to the door and starting to leave.

"Wait!" I called to him, making him turn towards me, "What about your shirt?"

Oscar smirked and swatted his hand in a downwards motion, "Keep it."

And with that, he turned on his heel, and walked out.

I smiled warmly and turned back to the newises, who were glaring at me, all except for Les.

"What da hell's da matta' wit you?" Jack snapped, taking a few angry steps forward, towards me, "He's a worthless scab!"

"Yeah, he used ta' push us around!" Snipeshooter called.

"He stole my cigars one time!" Called Racetrack.

"And he beat me and my siblings up!" Davie cried as well.

"Yeah, ye' think youse can just go 'round screwin' da enemy? I forbid it!" Jack snapped, stomping his foot and crossing his arms.

I gaped and glared at Jack, "First of all, I'm not 'screwin'' the enemy, as you kindly put it. I'm going out with a very nice young man. And secondly, you can't forbid it. You're not my Dad."

"Then I'se can kick youse out!" Jack snapped.

"I'm payin' ta' stay here, and you're not the boss here either," I spat, "Kloppman is, and he could just as easily throw you out as he could me."

Jack kept his firm glare on me before turning on his heel and rushing upstairs, "I'm goin' ta' bed."

He and the other newsies followed his suit before Davie pulled Les away from me and went out the door to go back to his home. That just left me standing there, feeling very alone.


End file.
